THIRTEEN 
HISTORICAL 
MARINE 
PAINTINGS 

BY 

EDWARD  MORAN 

REPRESENTING 

THIRTEEN   CHAPTERS 

or 

AMERICAN  HISTORY 


Copyright,  1905,  by  Theodore  Stitro. 

EDWARD     MORAN 

From  a  painting  by  Thomas  Sidney  Moran 


THIRTEEN    CHAPTERS 


OF 


AMERICAN    HISTORY 


REPRESENTED 

BY  THE 


EDWARD     MORAN 

SERIES  OF 

THIRTEEN  HISTORICAL 
MARINE  PAINTINGS 


By     THEODORE     SUTRO 

1905 


Copyright,  1905,  by  Theodore  Sutro 


Krl 

tabraqj 


To 

My  Dear   Wife 
FLORENCE 

THROUGH  WHOSE  STEADFAST  FRIENDSHIP  FOR 
MR.  AND  MRS.  EDWARD  MORAN  AND  LOYAL  DE- 
VOTION TO  ME,  I  WAS  LED  TO  CHAMPION,  AND 
ENCOURAGED  TO  PERSEVERE  IN  ESTABLISHING, 
THE  RIGHTS  OF  THE  WIDOW  TO  THESE  MASTER- 
WORKS,  WITHOUT  WHICH  THE  OCCASION  FOR 
PENNING  THESE  PAGES  WOULD  NOT  HAVE  ARISEN 
—  THIS  LITTLE  WORK  IS  LOVINGLY  INSCRIBED, 
ON  THE 

TWENTIETH  ANNIVERSARY  OF  OUR  MARRIAGE, 
OCTOBER  IST,  1904. 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

FRONTISPIECE — Portrait  of  Edward   Moran,   from  a  painting  by 
THOMAS  SIDNEY  MORAN 

INTRODUCTORY     7 

BIOGRAPHICAL 15 

PORTRAIT    OF    MRS.    EDWARD    MORAN,    from    a    painting  by 

THOMAS  SIDNEY  MORAN    ....      Facing  page      20 
DESCRIPTIVE  AND  EXPLANATORY  : 

I.  THE  OCEAN — THE  HIGHWAY  OF  ALL  NATIONS  ...      27 

II.  LANDING   OF   LIEF   ERICKSON   IN   THE   NEW   WORLD  IN 

THE  YEAR  1001 33 

III.  THE  SANTA  MARIA,  NINA  AND  PINTA  (Evening  of  October 

nth.  1492)          .........       39 

IV.  THE   DEBARKATION   OF  COLUMBUS  (Morning  of  October 

I2th,  1492) 39 

V.  MIDNIGHT  MASS  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI,  OVER  THE  BODY  OF 

FERDINAND  DE  SOTO,  1542 47 

VI.  HENRY  HUDSON  ENTERING  NEW  YORK  BAY,    September 

nth,  1609 53 

VII.  EMBARKATION  OF  THE  PILGRIMS  FROM  SOUTHAMPTON, 
August  sth,  1620 59 

VIII.  FIRST    RECOGNITION    OF    THE    AMERICAN  FLAG  BY  A 
FOREIGN    GOVERNMENT.      In    the   Harbor  of  Quiberon, 
France,  February  1310,  1778 67 

IX.  BURNING  OF  THE  FRIGATE  PHILADELPHIA.     In  the  Har- 

bor of  Tripoli,  February  i6th,  1804          ....       73 

X.  THE  BRIG  ARMSTRONG  ENGAGING  THE  BRITISH  FLEET. 

In  the  Harbor  of  Fayal,  September  26th,  1814         .        .       79 

XI.  IRON  VERSUS  WOOD — SINKING  OF  THE  CUMBERLAND  BY 

THE  MERRIMAC.     In  Hampton  Roads,  March  Sth,  1862  .       87 

XII.  THE  WHITE  SQUADRON'S  FAREWELL  SALUTE  TO  THE 
BODY   OF   CAPTAIN   JOHN    ERICSSON,   New   York    Bay, 
August  25th,  1890  , 95 

XIII.  RETURN  OF  THE  CONQUERORS.     Typifying  Our  Victory 

in  the  late  Spanish-American  War,  September  agth,  1899.     105 
INDEX  .  "...     in 


INTRODUCTORY 


T.  S.  M. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

The  Thirteen  Paintings,  to  a  history  and  description  of 
which  (and  incidentally  to  a  brief  memoir  of  their 
creator,  Edward  Moran)  these  pages  are  devoted,  are 
monumental  in  their  character  and  importance.  Mr. 
Moran  designated  them  as  representing  the  "  Marine 
History  of  the  United  States."  I  have  somewhat  changed 
this  title ;  for  even  the  untraversed  "  Ocean "  and  the 
landing  of  Columbus  in  the  new  world  represent  periods 
which  necessarily  affect  the  whole  American  Continent. 

The  conception  of  these  pictures  was  in  itself  a  mark 
of  genius,  for  no  more  fitting  subjects  could  have  been 
chosen  by  the  greatest  marine  painter  in  the  United  States 
than  the  heroic  and  romantic  incidents  connected  with 
the  sea,  which  are  so  splendidly  depicted  in  these  thirteen 
grand  paintings.  That  their  execution  required  over 
fifteen  years  of  ceaseless  labor  and  the  closest  historical 
study  is  not  surprising.  The  localities,  the  ships,  the 
armament,  the  personages,  the  costumes,  the  weapons  and 
all  the  incidents  connected  with  each  epoch  are  minutely 
and  correctly  represented,  in  so  far  as  existing  records 
rendered  that  possible.  And  yet,  interwoven  with  each 
canvas,  is  a  tone  so  poetic  and  imaginative  that  stamps 
it  at  once  as  the  offspring  of  genius  and  lifts  it  far  above 
the  merely  photographic  and  realistic.  The  series  is  the 
result  of  a  life  of  prolific  production,  careful  study,  un- 
ceasing industry  and  great  experience. 

Mr.  Moran  himself  regarded  these  pictures  as  his 
crowning  work,  and  in  token  of  his  many  happy  years  of 

7 


married  life  presented  them,  several  years  before  his 
death,  to  his  wife,  Annette  Moran,  herself  an  artist  of 
great  merit,  and  whom  he  always  mentioned  as  his  best 
critic  and  the  inspirer  of  his  greatest  achievements.  This 
loving  act,  strange  to  say,  gave  rise  to  a  protracted  legal 
controversy,  by  reason  of  an  adverse  claim  to  these  paint- 
ings made  by  the  executor  of  the  estate  of  Edward 
Moran,  the  final  decision  of  which  in  favor  of  the  widow, 
after  three  years  of  litigation,  lends  additional  interest  to 
these  remarkable  works  of  art.  Proceedings  to  recover 
the  pictures  from  the  executor  of  the  estate,  who  had 
them  in  his  possession  and  refused  to  deliver  them  to  her, 
were  commenced  on  February  5,  1902,  and  after  a  trial 
in  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  City  of  New  York  lasting 
several  days,  a  jury  decided  that  the  pictures  were  the 
property  of  the  widow  as  claimed.  On  a  technical  point 
of  law  raised  by  the  executor  this  finding  of  the  jury  was 
temporarily  rendered  ineffective,  but,  on  an  appeal  to  the 
Appellate  Division  of  the  Supreme  Court,  this  technicality 
was  overruled  and  an  absolute  judgment  awarded  in 
favor  of  the  widow.*  This  was  on  January  23,  1903. 
Still  not  content,  the  executor  appealed  to  the  highest 
court  in  the  State,  the  Court  of  Appeals  at  Albany,  which, 
on  January  26,  1904,  finally  and  absolutely  affirmed  the 
decision  of  the  Appellate  Division.f  But  even  then  the 
widow  was  kept  out  of  her  property  on  further  applica- 
tions made  by  the  executor  to  the  court.  Also  in  this  he 
failed,  and  at  last,  on  April  28,  1904,  the  judgment  in  her 
favor  was  satisfied  through  the  delivery  of  the  pictures 
to  her,  as  her  absolute  property,  beyond  dispute,  cavil  or 
further  question. 

I  have  deemed  it  proper  to  make  this  explanation,  as  it 
is  through  my  connection  as  counsel  for  Mrs.  Moran 
throughout  this  litigation  that  the  occasion  has  presented 

*  Moran  v.  Merrill,  78  Appellate  Division  Reports,  440. 
f  Moran  v.  Morrill,  177  New  York  Reports,  563. 

8 


itself  for  this  publication,  and  of  giving  to  the  public  the 
opportunity  to  examine  and  enjoy,  to  the  fullest  extent, 
these  great  pictures  at  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art. 

It  may  be  added  that  although  these  paintings  have 
,  occasionally  been  viewed  by  artists,  they  have  never  be- 
fore been  publicly  exhibited  as  a  series  except  for  a  very 
short  period  in  the  year  1900  in  Philadelphia  and  in  Wash- 
ington. During  this  time  they  received  the  highest  en- 
comiums from  critics  and  the  press,  and  were  pronounced 
the  most  notable  series  of  historic  pictures  ever  painted 
in  this  country.  While  each  one  of  the  series  is  a  master 
work,  it  is  as  a  group  that  the  greatest  interest  attaches 
to  them,  and  it  was  Mr.  Moran's  desire,  and  it  is  also 
that  of  the  present  owner,  that  they  should,  if  possible, 
never  be  separated. 

With  reference  to  the  exhibition  of  these  paintings  at 
the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  I  quote  from  a  full 
page  illustrated  article  which  appeared  in  the  New  York 
Herald  on  Sunday,  November  6,  1904,  as  follows: 

"  The  exhibition  of  these  pictures  of  scenes  connected 
with  the  history  of  the  United  States  is  not  only  an  artistic 
but  an  educational  event.  Edward  Moran  was  probably 
the  strongest  marine  painter  of  the  United  States. 
*  *  *  No  more  artistically  valuable  and  educationally 
instructive  exhibit  has  been  made  in  New  York  than  that 
of  these  paintings  of  Edward  Moran.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  school  children  of  the  city  will  be  taken  to  see 
and  study  them.  The  public  has  already  testified  to  its 
appreciation  of  the  exhibition  by  its  large  attendance." 

It  may  be  asked  why  the  artist  limited  or  extended  the 
series  to  the  number  "  13."  This  was  done  with  a  pur- 
pose. This  number  seems  to  have  been  interwoven  in 
many  particulars  with  the  history  of  our  country.  The 
original  colonies  were  thirteen,  and  also  the  first  States; 
the  first  order  for  the  creation  of  a  navy  was  for  thirteen 
war  ships;  there  were  and  still  are  thirteen  stripes,  and 

9 


there  were  originally  thirteen  stars,  on  our  flag;  on  our 
coat  of  arms  a  mailed  hand  grasps  thirteen  arrows, 
as  do  also  the  left  talons  of  the  eagle,  while  in  its  right 
is  an  olive  branch  with  thirteen  leaves;  there  were  also 
thirteen  rattles  on  the  snake  on  the  first  American  flag, 
with  the  motto  "  Don't  tread  on  me."  It  was  on  February 
13,  1778,  in  the  harbor  of  Quiberon,  that  the  American 
flag  received  its  first  recognition  by  a  foreign  government, 
an  incident  represented  by  one  of  these  paintings ;  thirteen 
years  elapsed  between  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in 
1776  and  the  inauguration  of  the  first  President,  General 
Washington,  in  1789;  and  the  Louisiana  purchase  from 
France  includes  the  area  prospectively  covered  by  thirteen 
States,  as  soon  as  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territories  shall, 
as  is  now  in  contemplation,  be  admitted  as  one  State. 

This  idea  of  thirteen  is  already  foreshadowed  in  the 
introductory  painting  "  The  Ocean,"  in  which  thirteen 
gulls  are  seen  hovering  over  the  water,  typical  of  the 
important  events,  linked  with  that  number,  which  would 
occur  in  the  misty  and  unknown  future. 

It  is  remarkable  that  although  these  paintings  are  by 
one  man,  and  virtually  on  the  same  subject,  they  should 
exhibit  such  unusual  variety,  and  be  individually  so  ex- 
ceptionally interesting.  It  has  been  said  that  historic 
pictures  may  be  considered  as  either  representative,  sug- 
gestive or  allegoric,  but  in  this  series  of  paintings  all 
these  elements  are  combined. 

The  American  navy  has  been  celebrated  for  its  heroic 
achievements  from  the  beginning,  and  some  of  these  pict- 
ures recall  vividly  to  the  mind  the  episodes  linked  with 
the  immortal  names  of  such  men  as  John  Paul  Jones, 
Stephen  Decatur,  Samuel  Chester  Reid,  George  U. 
Morris,  John  L.  Worden,  and  the  whole  galaxy  of  heroes 
connected  with  these  memorable  events  down  to  Dewey, 
Sampson,  Schley,  Wainwright  and  Hobson. 

The  production  of  these  paintings  was  the  result  of  a 

10 


patriotic  and  noble  impulse  on  the  part  of  the  artist, 
through  which  he  has  immortalized  the  maritime  achieve- 
ments of  our  country,  and  for  which  we,  as  well  as  future 
generations,  can  hardly  be  sufficiently  grateful ! 

"  If  thou  wouldst  touch  the  universal  heart, 
Of  thine  own  country,  sing !  " 
ii 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


T.  S.  M. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 

Edward  Moran  was  almost  seventy-two  years  of  age 
when  he  died  in  the  City  of  New  York  on  June  9,  1901, 
having  been  born  at  Bolton,  Lancashire,  England,  on 
August  19,  1829.  He  was  the  oldest  son  of  a  large  family 
of  children,  and  when  a  mere  child  was  put  to  work  at  the 
loom,  the  humble  vocation  of  his  father  who,  the  same 
as  his  ancestors  had  been  for  several  generations,  was  a 
hand-loom  weaver.  Already  while  so  employed  the  child 
was  frequently  caught  sketching  with  charcoal  on  the 
white  fabric  in  his  loom  instead  of  continually  plying  the 
shuttle.  Whence  and  how  he  derived  this  inborn  talent 
is  one  of  those  unsolvable  problems  which  seem  to  set  at 
defiance  all  the  accepted  canons  of  heredity.  At  all 
events,  his  talent  was  recognized  by  a  local  village  celeb- 
rity, a  decorator,  who  guided  the  child,  then  only  nine 
years  of  age,  in  a  crude  way  to  a  development  of  these 
artistic  instincts,  in  consequence  of  which  it  is  related  that 
he  was  soon  able  to  "  cut  marvellous  figures  from  paper 
and  afterwards  draw  their  outlines  on  walls  and  fences." 

The  hardship  of  their  pursuit,  offering  little  hope  of 
a  brighter  future  for  their  large  family  of  growing 
children,  induced  the  parents  about  the  year  1844  to  Jom 
the  tide  of  emigration  to  that  land  of  golden  promise, 
the  United  States,  in  immortalizing  whose  history  and  in 
furthering  whose  artistic  development  through  his  glori- 
ous marine  pictures,  the  little  Edward  was  destined  to 
play  so  important  a  part.  The  family  settled  in  Mary- 
land, and  in  the  struggle  for  existence  soon  awakened 

15 


from  their  golden  dream  of  a  new  Eldorado  and  returned 
to  their  old  vocation.  Edward  again  found  employ- 
ment at  the  loom,  until  the  spirit  of  adventure  and  the 
desire  of  following  the  artistic  bent  of  his  mind  impelled 
him  one  day,  without  a  dollar  in  his  pocket,  to  walk  all 
the  way  to  Philadelphia,  where  the  boy  hoped  to  find 
better  opportunities.  There  also,  however,  he  was  dis- 
appointed, and  after  employment  in  various  capacities, 
first  with  a  cabinetmaker,  then  in  a  bronzing  shop,  and 
then  at  house  painting,  he  finally  returned  to  the  loom  at 
the  munificent  salary  of  six  dollars  per  week.  While  so 
employed  he  attracted  the  attention  of  the  proprietor, 
who  one  day  surprised  him  while  engaged  in  a  superb 
drawing,  stealing  time  for  this  purpose  from  his  work. 
The  intelligence  of  this  man  in  recognizing  young 
Moran's  exceptional  talent,  and,  as  a  result,  advising  him 
to  quit  mechanical  labor,  and  introducing  him  to  one  of 
the  then  famous  landscape  painters  of  Philadelphia,  Mr. 
Paul  Webber,  was  the  turning  point  in  his  career.  Sub- 
sequently another  artist,  James  Hamilton,  guided  him  in 
his  particular  bent  of  marine  painting,  and  after  the  usual 
hardships  and  struggle  for  recognition,  the  fate  of  all 
young  artists,  he  finally  was  enabled  to  open  a  little  studio 
in  a  garret  over  a  cigar  store  with  an  entrance  up  a  back 
alley.  The  works  which  emanated  from  there  attracted 
such  wide  attention  that  he  gradually  rose  to  fame  and 
fortune.  His  pictures  were  accepted  by  all  the  American 
academies,  as  well  as  the  London  Royal  Academy  and 
the  Paris  Salon,  and  he  received  many  medals  and 
awards.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Water-Color  Societies 
of  this  country  and  of  London,  of  the  Philadelphia 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  an  Associate  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Design,  also  Vice-President  of  the  Lotos 
Club  and  connected  with  many  other  artistic  and  social 
organizations  and  societies. 

Why  his  artistic  tastes  should  have  been  particularly 

16 


directed  to  marine  painting  can  be  demonstrated  just  as 
little  as  the  possession  of  his  extraordinary  talents  at  all ; 
and  yet  for  the  former  a  possible  solution  may  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  his  childish  imagination  and  predilections 
may  have  been  moulded  through  his  sea-coast  experiences 
in  old  Lancashire,  that  picturesque  maritime  county  of 
northwestern  England,  which  is  bounded  on  the  west  by 
the  Irish  Sea.  At  all  events  Edward  Moran  loved  the 
sea,  and  this  love  guided  every  stroke  of  his  brush  in 
depicting  his  favorite  element.  No  artist  in  this  country, 
or  perhaps  in  the  world,  has  ever  painted  such  water, 
and  it  was  not  many  years  after  his  first  successes  in 
Philadelphia  that  his  fame  spread  throughout  the  United 
States,  and  he  was  easily  recognized  as  its  first  marine 
painter.  Fame  and  prosperity,  however,  did  not  turn  his 
head,  as  they  so  frequently  do  with  little  men,  but  never 
with  men  of  true  genius.  On  the  contrary,  he  worked 
with  redoubled  zeal  and  industry  as  he  grew  older,  so 
that  the  number  of  works  which  he  produced  is  mar- 
vellous. 

Among    his    famous    paintings,    besides    the    thirteen 
herein  described,  may  be  mentioned  the  following: 

"  Virginia  Sands." 

"  A  Squally  Day  off  Newport." 

"  Massachusetts  Bay." 

"  New  York  Harbor." 

"  The  Yacht  Race." 

"  The  Battle  of  Svold." 

"  Philadelphia  from  the  New  Park." 

"  Minot's  Ledge  Light-House." 

"  White  Cliffs  of  Albion." 

"  Off  Block  Island." 

"  Return  of  the  Fishers." 

"  Outward  Bound." 

"  Low  Tide." 

"  The  Gathering  Storm." 

17 


"  Sentinel  Rock,  Maine." 

"  Toilers  of  the  Sea." 

"  Launching  of  the  Life-Boat."     (1865.) 

"View  on  Delaware  Bay."     (1867.) 

"Evening  on  Vineyard  Sound."     (1867.) 

"Pinchyn  Castle,  North  Wales."     (1867.) 

"  Moonrise  at  Nahant."     (1867.) 

"  The  Lord  Staying  the  Waters."     (1867.) 

"  Coast  Scene  Near  Digby."     (1868.) 

"  Departure  of  the  United  States  Fleet  for  Port 
Royal."  (1868.) 

"  After  a  Gale."     (1869.) 

"On  the  Narrows."     (1873.) 

"  The  Commerce  of  Nations  Paying  Homage  to 
Liberty  "  (1877) — ^he  great  picture  which  came  into  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Joseph  Drexel,  the  banker — an  allegory 
suggested  by  the  then  proposed  Statue  of  Liberty  in  New 
York  Harbor. 

"Young  Americans  out  on  a  Holiday."     (1882.) 

"  Life-Saving  Patrol:  New  Jersey  Coast."     (1889.) 

"  Melodies  of  the  Sea."     (1890.) 

"  South  Coast  of  England."     (1900.) 

But  space  forbids  the  complete  enumeration  of  even  his 
more  notable  works,  which  may  be  counted  by  the 
hundreds. 

Mr.  Moran,  like  all  men  of  genius,  felt  his  own 
strength,  though  he  never  overrated  it ;  but  as  a  result  of 
this  self-consciousness  he  would  not  brook  depreciation, 
and  when,  in  May,  1868,  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  had  hung  some  of 
his  pictures  in  an  inconspicuous  and  detrimental  position 
in  its  gallery,  he  resorted  to  a  novel  expedient  for  show- 
ing his  displeasure.  On  "  varnishing  day,"  prior  to  the 
opening  of  the  exhibition  to  the  public,  he  used  a  mixture 
of  beer  and  porter,  combined  with  a  dry  light  red,  for 
the  purpose  of  "  varnishing  "  his  paintings,  but  the  effect 

18 


of  which  was  that  they  were  all  coated  with  a  beautiful 
opaque  red  substance,  so  that  none  of  them  could  be 
recognized,  and  yet  a  substance  which  he  could  remove, 
when  so  inclined,  without  injuring  the  pictures  at  all. 
This  called  forth  a  storm  of  criticism  from  the  '"'  Hanging 
Committee  "  and  the  wiseacres  of  the  Academy,  but  he 
was  fully  sustained  in  his  course  by  public  opinion  and 
the  press,  and,  instead  of  diminishing,  it  added  to  his 
fame  as  an  artist  and  certainly  to  his  reputation  for  the 
courage  of  his  convictions. 

Mr.  Moran  was  not  only  a  great  artist,  but  a  man  of 
genial  and  companionable  qualities,  which  endeared  him 
to  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  He,  furthermore, 
was  not  only  an  artist  who  used  oil,  water-color  and  pastel 
with  equal  facility,  and  painted  landscapes  and  figure 
pieces  as  well  as  marines,  but  was  versatile  in  his  talents. 
His  musical  instincts  were  marked,  and,  although  self- 
taught,  he  played  on  a  number  of  instruments,  and  he  had 
also,  through  years  of  industrious  reading  and  study,  be- 
come thoroughly  well-informed  and  an  interesting  con- 
versationalist. He  was  of  a  most  generous  nature,  and 
was  not  only  ever  ready  to  assist  young  artists  with  advice 
and  material  aid  as  well,  but  also,  when  the  occasion 
arose,  to  devote  the  fruit  of  his  labors  to  any  meritorious 
charitable  object.  Thus,  for  example,  in  March,  1871, 
he  exhibited  in  Philadelphia  seventy-five  of  his  landscapes 
and  marines,  all  of  which  he  used  in  illustrating  a  beauti- 
ful catalogue  entitled  "  Land  and  Sea,"  and  not  only  gave 
the  entire  profits  of  this  exhibition  and  of  the  sale  of  the 
catalogue,  but  also  the  price  obtained  for  one  of  his  im- 
portant paintings,  entitled  "  The  Relief  Ship  Entering 
Havre,"  to  aid  the  sufferers  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war. 

He  did  not  reach  the  culminating  point  of  excellence 
in  his  work  in  middle  life  or  shortly  thereafter,  like  so 
many  other  painters,  but  on  the  contrary  grew  in  breadth 
and  power  with  advancing  years,  so  that  the  Thirteen 

'9 


Historical  Paintings,  described  in  this  little  book,  although 
he  gave  them  the  finishing  touches  only  shortly  before  his 
death,  constitute  his  greatest  achievement. 

About  the  year  1872  Mr.  Moran  sought  a  still  wider 
field  for  his  activities  in  removing  from  Philadelphia  to 
the  City  of  New  York,  where  for  thirty  years  he  was  a 
conspicuous  and  admired  figure  in  metropolitan  life,  and 
in  his  studios,  surrounded  by  all  the  luxury  and  comfort 
that  prosperity  could  suggest,  he  and  his  talented  and 
hospitable  wife  drew  around  them  a  circle  of  artists, 
authors,  musicians  and  notable  men  of  all  classes,  among 
whom  may  be  mentioned  actors  like  Joseph  Jefferson,  F. 
F.  Mackay  (both  pupils  of  Mr.  Moran)  and  Charles  W. 
Couldock,  writers  like  Richard  Watson  Gilder  and  John 
Clark  Ridpath,  lawyers  like  Col.  Edward  C.  James  and 
Robert  Ingersoll,  art  connoisseurs  like  Samuel  P.  Avery 
and  William  Schaus,  sculptors  like  Frederic  A.  Bartholdi 
and  James  W.  A.  Macdonald,  and  of  course  a  host  of 
artists  such  as  Edwin  Abbey,  Albert  Bierstadt,  Edwin  H. 
Blashfield,  John  C.  Brown,  Thomas  B.  Craig,  Hamilton 
Hamilton,  Constant  Meyer,  Paul  de  Longpre,  Henry  W. 
Ranger,  Vasili  Vereschagin  and  Napoleon  Sarony. 

It  may  be  added  that  Mrs.  Moran's  maiden  name  was 
Annette  Parmentier,  and  that  she  was  a  Southern  girl  of 
French  descent  from  the  noted  scientist  Antoine  Augus- 
tin  Parmentier,  who  was  the  first  to  introduce  the  potato 
into  France,  for  which  he  was  decorated  by  Louis  XVI  as 
a  public  benefactor,  and  honored  by  a  statue  erected  in  his 
native  town  of  Bordeaux.  Mr.  Moran  married  Annette 
(his  second  wife)  in  the  year  1869,  and  under  his  instruc- 
tion and  guidance  her  own  talent  as  an  artist  was  devel- 
oped, and  some  of  her  paintings,  among  them  landscapes 
entitled  "  A  Staten  Island  Study,"  "  The  Fisherman's  Re- 
turn," and  other  pictures,  were  not  only  exhibited  and 
greatly  admired,  but  were  deemed  of  sufficient  importance 
to  be  reproduced  by  prominent  art  publishers.  She  sur- 

20 


Copyright,  1905,  by  Theodore  Sutro. 


MRS.  EDWARD   MORAN 

(NEE   ANNETTE    1'ARMENTIER) 

From  a  painting  by  Thomas  Sidney  Moran 


vived  her  husband  by  about  three  and  one-half  years, 
having  died,  at  an  advanced  age,  in  the  City  of  New 
York  on  November  7,  1904. 

In  his  art  Mr.  Moran  followed  mainly  the  bent  of  his 
own  genius,  though  if  he  was  influenced  by  any  other 
artists  to  any  extent  it  was  by  Clarkson  Stanfield  and 
Turner,  whom  he  greatly  admired  and  many  of  whose 
pictures,  for  the  sake  of  practice,  he  copied.  He  was  un- 
doubtedly also  influenced  in  a  general  way,  as  are  all 
eminent  artists,  by  studying  the  master  works  of  the  world 
in  Europe,  where  for  that  purpose  he  spent  some  time  in 
the  year  1861  and  again  in  1878  and  also  in  subsequent 
years. 

Of  Edward  Moran  it  may  be  truly  said  that  he  is  an- 
other notable  example  of  the  fact  that  true  genius  is  not 
baffled  or  impaired  through  adverse  circumstances  or  the 
most  humble  beginnings,  but  soars  ever  upward  and  on- 
ward until  it  achieves  its  mission,  and  compels  the  recog- 
nition and  admiration  of  the  world,  to  which  it  is  entitled. 


DESCRIPTIVE 

AND 

EXPLANATORY 


T.  S.  M 


THE  OCEAN 

The  Highway  of  All  Nations 


DESCRIPTIVE   AND   EXPLANATORY. 

I. 

THE  OCEAN — THE  HIGHWAY  OF  ALL  NATIONS.* 

This  picture  has  already  been  briefly  referred  to,  and 
is  considered  by  some  critics  the  greatest  of  the  thirteen. 
Probably  no  such  sublime  ocean  has  ever  been  painted. 
How  thoroughly  it  appeals  to  those  who  best  know  the 
sea  is  illustrated  by  the  blunt  but  expressive  compliment 
bestowed  upon  it  by  Admiral  Hopkins  of  the  English 
navy  when,  in  1892,  he  saw  it  in  the  Union  League  Club 
of  New  York,  where  it  was  being  privately  shown.  After 
silently  studying  it  for  some  minutes  he  turned  to  Mr. 
Joseph  H.  Choate,  whose  guest  he  was,  and  said :  "  I  have 
always  believed  that  only  an  Englishman  could  paint  the 
sea,  but  it  seems  that  I  had  to  come  to  America  to  look 
upon  the  most  almighty  sea  that  I  have  ever  beheld  on 
canvas." 

Admiral  Hopkins  was  not  aware  that,  in  this,  he  was 
in  fact  complimenting  one  of  his  own  fellow-countrymen, 
though,  in  truth,  Mr.  Moran  had  become  an  American  of 
Americans  through  his  patriotic  ardor  and  long  residence 
here. 

In  this  painting  the  powers  of  Mr.  Moran  as  an  artist 
were  tested  to  the  utmost.  For  while  others  have  at- 

*  Size  of  canvas  :  nine  and  one-half  feet  in  length  by  six  and  one- 
quarter  feet  in  height. 

27 


tempted  to  paint  the  sea,  among  whom  Turner  stands  pre- 
eminent, few  have  ever  succeeded  in  depicting  it  on  so 
large  a  scale,  without  a  single  other  object  to  disturb  the 
aspect  excepting  only  the  thirteen  sea-gulls  hovering  over 
its  surface,  which  through  their  number  suggest  the 
whole  series  of  these  paintings  and  the  interesting  events 
connected  with  the  marine  history  of  the  United  States. 

This  picture  is  the  largest  of  the  series.  Not  only  the 
water  but  the  sky  in  this  painting  is  superb,  with  the  faint 
shimmer  of  the  sunlight  breaking  through  the  clouds. 
The  color  is  that  peculiar  green  gray,  which  is  the  most 
fascinating  hue  known  to  the  sea,  and  only  present  when 
the  sky  is  overcast.  The  water  and  the  motion  of  the 
waves  are  grand  beyond  comparison — an  actual  living, 
moving,  foaming  mass  and  as  seen  in  mid-ocean.  The 
conception  of  this  painting  as  introductory  to  the  whole 
series  is  most  poetic.  It  suggests  the  deep,  dark,  dreaded, 
unknown  waste  of  waters  which  was  shrouded  in  mystery 
for  thousands  of  years  until  a  few  daring  seamen,  first 
the  Norsemen,  and  then  Columbus  with  his  little  band, 
undertook  the  perilous  task  of  lifting  the  veil.  Its  un- 
explored expanse  naturally  and  logically  preceded  every 
voyage  of  discovery  and  is  the  keynote  of  all  the  marvel- 
lous achievements  which  subsequently  constituted  it  the 
link  between  America  and  the  Eastern  world.  It  also 
typifies  the  greatest  of  all  republics,  which  was  to  spring 
up  beyond  its  westernmost  limits,  for  nothing  is  so  free, 
unfettered  and  seemingly  conscious  of  its  own  strength 
and  possibilities  as  the  mighty  ocean. 

This  painting  may  be  likened  to  the  opening  stanzas  of 
an  epic  poem,  in  which  the  theme  of  the  story  is  fore- 
shadowed, and  no  grander  epic  was  ever  written  than  is 
depicted  in  these  thirteen  mighty  paintings,  of  all  those 
qualities  of  heroism  and  adventure  which  have  ever  been 
thought  worthy  of  commemoration  in  song  or  story. 

How  well  the  xamous  stanzas  of  Lord  Byron,  in  Childe 

28 


Harold's  Pilgrimage,  illustrate  the  thoughts  suggested 
by  this  "  Ocean  "  of  Edward  Moran : 

"  Roll  on,  thou  deep  and  dark  blue  Ocean — roll ! 
Ten  thousand  fleets  sweep  over  thee  in  vain ; 
Man  marks  the  earth  with  ruin — his  control 
Stops  with  the  shore; — upon  the  watery  plain 
The  wrecks  are  all  thy  deed,  nor  doth  remain 
A  shadow  of  man's  ravage,  save  his  own, 
When,  for  a  moment,  like  a  drop  of  rain, 
He  sinks  into  thy  depths  with  bubbling  groan, 
Without  a  grave,  unknell'd,  uncoffin'd,  and  unknown. 
********* 

"  Thou  glorious  mirror,  where  the  Almighty's  form 
Glasses  itself  in  tempests ;  in  all  time, 
Calm  or  convulsed — in  breeze,  or  gale,  or  storm, 
Icing  the  pole,  or  in  the  torrid  clime 
Dark-heaving; — boundless,  endless  and  sublime — 
The  image  of  Eternity — the  throne 
Of  the  Invisible ;  even  from  out  thy  slime 
The  monsters  of  the  deep  are  made ;  each  zone 
Obeys  thee ;  thou  goest  forth,  dread,  fathomless,  alone." 

29 


LANDING   OF  LIEF   ERICKSON 
in  the  New  World  in  1001 


II. 

LANDING  OF  LIEF  ERICKSON  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD,  IN  IOOI.* 

While  the  most  notable  occurrence  in  its  influence  on 
America  was  undoubtedly  the  landing  of  Columbus,  as 
it  resulted  in  the  gradual  colonization  and  development 
of  the  whole  continent,  the  actual  discovery  of  the  new 
world  was  made  ages  prior  to  1492.  The  landing  of  Lief 
Erickson  was  made  in  1001,  but  there  is  good  reason  to 
believe  that  even  long  prior  to  that  time  either  the  shores 
or  the  islands  of  America  were  reached  by  Phoenicians, 
Irish  and  Basques,  and  its  western  shores  by  the  Chinese. 
The  earliest  discovery,  however,  of  which  there  is  any 
authenticated  record  is  that  by  the  Eirek  (Erick)  family 
of  Iceland,  and  these  records  are  not  only  embraced  in 
the  Sagas  or  histories  of  the  Scandinavian  chieftains,  but 
more  especially  in  the  "  Codex  Flataeensis,"  completed  in 
1387.  Acording  to  these,  Eirek  the  Red  founded  col- 
onies in  Greenland  about  the  year  985,  which  prospered 
for  over  four  centuries.  Remains  of  buildings  and  con- 
temporaneous writings  establish  this  beyond  a  doubt. 
These  colonies  became  Christianized  and  established 
churches,  monasteries,  and  had  bishops  in  regular  suc- 
cession for  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  There  is 
nothing  marvellous  about  this  account,  as  Greenland  was 
only  about  two  hundred  miles  distant  from  Iceland,  and 
therefore  nearer  to  that  island  than  the  latter  was  to 
Norway,  whence  the  Icelanders  originally  came.  These 
*  About  six  feet  long  by  about  three  and  one-half  feet  high. 
33 


colonies  became  practically  extinct  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  owing,  it  is  believed,  to  enormous  accumulations 
of  ice  on  the  coast,  which  prevented  intercommunication 
between  them  and  Iceland,  and  cut  off  their  chief  food 
supplies.  They  may  also  have  been  decimated  through 
the  great  pestilence  called  the  Black  Death,  which  pre- 
vailed in  1349,  especially  in  the  northern  countries ;  while, 
if  any  remained,  they  are  supposed  to  have  been  killed 
by  the  Esquimos,  or  Skraelings,  as  they  were  then  called, 
and  who  were  a  far  more  powerful  race  than  the 
Esquimos  of  to-day. 

The  foothold  thus  gained  by  the  Norsemen  in  Green- 
land led  to  voyages  southward.  Some  years  after  the 
establishment  of  these  colonies  one  Bjarne  Herjulfson 
was  on  one  of  these  voyages  driven  by  a  storm  far  south 
of  Greenland  and  saw  the  coast  of  the  main  continent  of 
North  America,  somewhere,  it  is  supposed  from  his  de- 
scription, between  Newfoundland  and  Nantucket.  With- 
out landing,  he  returned  to  Greenland,  whence  soon  there- 
after, induced  by  his  accounts,  Leif,  the  son  of  Eirek  the 
Red,  undertook  the  same  journey  with  a  single  ship  and 
about  thirty-five  men,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  pos- 
session of  the  newly  discovered  country.  He  landed 
probably  at  Nantucket  Island,  and  settled  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  present  Fall  River,  and  called  the  country  Vinland 
on  account  of  the  grape-vines  which  grew  there  in  pro- 
fusion. 

In  confirmation  of  the  claim  that  it  was  in  this  locality 
that  Leif  Erickson  first  set  foot,  the  Norse  records  are 
relied  upon,  which  state  that,  at  the  season  when  this 
discovery  was  made,  the  sun  rose  at  7:30  A.M.  and  set 
at  4:30  P.M.  This  astronomical  observation  would 
locate  the  place  of  landing  on  the  southern  coast  of 
New  England  in  the  vicinity  mentioned.  That  the 
Norsemen  made  a  settlement  in  this  country,  though  only 
of  brief  duration,  is  a  fact  in  support  of  which  many 

34 


learned  treatises  have  been  written,  dealing,  among  other 
things,  with  what  are  supposed  to  be  Icelandic  inscrip- 
tions discovered  in  that  section  of  the  country,  and  the 
like,  a  consideration  of  which,  however,  would  be  beyond 
the  scope  of  this  writing. 

Leif,  the  son  of  Eirek,  or  to  preserve  the  nomenclature 
of  the  artist,  Lief  Erickson,  is  described  in  the  Sagas  and 
other  records  as  a  large,  strong  man,  of  imposing  appear- 
ance. The  ships  in  which  voyages  were  made  by  the 
Norsemen  in  those  days  were  called  drakkars,  which  were 
propelled  both  by  oar  and  sail ;  at  the  ends  rose  wooden 
apartments  called  kastals.  All  the  parts  out  of  water 
were  fashioned  after  the  manner  of  monsters  or  drakkars 
(dragons,  Drachen).  The  prow  of  the  ship  represented 
the  terrible  head,  the  sides,  a  continuation  of  the  body, 
and  the  rear,  the  tail  of  the  monster  bent  upward ;  they 
bore  a  single  sail  covered  with  warlike  paintings,  and  to 
the  mast  were  also  frequently  hoisted  the  coats  of  arms 
of  various  chiefs.  It  was  in  ships  of  this  character  that 
these  bold  seamen  braved  the  perils  of  the  ocean,  and  it 
was  in  similar  ships  that  William,  the  Conqueror,  came 
to  England  ;  and  yet  even  these  vessels,  frail  as  they  were, 
were  superior,  both  in  seaworthiness  and  size,  to  the  ships 
of  Columbus. 

The  costumes  of  the  Norsemen  consisted  of  trousers, 
belt,  shirt,  and  often  a  coat  of  mail,  and  over  the  shoulders 
they  sometimes  wore  a  cloak  with  a  fringe  or  border  at 
the  sides.  They  carried  swords  with  most  elaborately 
carved  and  embossed  hilts  and  scabbards  of  gilt  bronze 
and  silver. 

To  depict  the  first  landing  of  Lief  Erickson  amid  these 
surroundings  was  the  object  of  the  painter.  How  well 
he  has  succeeded,  a  mere  inspection  of  this  canvas  will  at 
once  reveal.  The  heroic  figure  of  Lief,  himself,  dreamily 
and  yet  with  wonderment,  looking  out  upon  the  newly 
discovered  shore,  while  with  uplifted  sword  his  men  are 

35 


apparently  consecrating  the  new  world  with  a  solemn  vow 
of  loyalty,  some  standing  on  a  small  boat  which  is  being 
pushed  towards  the  shore,  while  others  stand  knee-deep 
in  the  shoal  water — the  form  of  the  ship  or  drakkar  in 
the  background,  the  costumes,  swords  and  all  the  other 
accessories — constitute  a  striking  and  fascinating  group. 
It  portrays  vividly  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion  when 
the  first  white  men  were  about  to  set  foot  on  the  American 
continent. 

The  discovery  of  Vinland  and  its  subsequent  coloniza- 
tion by  Thorfinn  are  referred  to  in  the  beautiful  verses 
of  Bayard  Taylor,  written  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to 
Iceland  to  attend  its  millennial  celebration,  in  August, 
1874. 

"  We  come,  the  children  of  thy  Vinland, 

The  youngest  of  the  world's  high  peers, 
O  land  of  steel,  and  song,  and  saga, 
To  greet  thy  glorious  thousand  years. 

"  Across  that  sea  the  son  of  Erik 

Dared  with  his  venturous  dragon's  prow ; 
From  shores  where  Thorfinn  set  thy  banner 
Their  latest  children  seek  thee  now. 


"  What  though  thy  native  harps  be  silent  ? 

The  chord  they  struck  shall  ours  prolong ; 
We  claim  thee  kindred,  call  thee  mother, 
O  land  of  saga,  steel  and  song !  " 
36 


THE  SANTA  MARIA,  NINA  AND  PINTA 


(Evening  of  October  u,   1492) 


THE  DEBARKATION  OF  COLUMBUS 


(Morning  of  October  12,   1492) 


III. 


THE  SANTA   MARIA,   NINA  AND  PINTA    (EVENING  OF  OCTO- 
BER   II,    1492)  * 


AND 


IV. 


THE   DEBARKATION   OF    COLUMBUS    (MORNING   OF   OCTOBER 
12, 


The  landing  of  Columbus  was  an  historical  event  of 
such  importance  in  its  consequences  that  the  artist  wisely 
celebrates  it  in  both  of  these  pictures. 

We  little  realize  what  it  meant  to  brave  the  perils  of 
the  unexplored  ocean  in  the  year  1492.  We  marvel  when 
some  adventurous  navigator,  even  now,  when  every  cur- 
rent and  wind  of  the  ocean  have  been  observed  for  five 
hundred  years,  and  are  accurately  known  and  precisely 
charted,  undertakes  to  cross  it  in  a  somewhat  diminutive 
vessel.  What,  then,  must  have  been  the  courage  of 
Columbus,  when,  at  the  advanced  age  of  fifty-seven,  he 
ventured  with  his  crew  upon  this  perilous  undertaking  in 
three  frail  barks  or  caravels,  the  largest  of  them  equipped 
with  a  single  deck  and  a  single  bridge,  with  an  awkward 
one-story  compartment  at  the  prow  and  a  two-story  com- 
partment at  the  stern,  and  the  two  others  without  any 

*  Eight  feet  long  by  four  and  one-half  feet  high. 
f  Four  and  one-half  feet  long  by  three  feet  high. 

39 


deck  at  all,  with  their  little  masts  carrying  awkward, 
unwieldy,  partly  square  and  partly  lateen  sails! 

The  three  crews  consisted  of  only  one  hundred  and 
four  men  combined, of  which  fifty  were  on  the  little"  Santa 
Maria,"  which  was  only  about  sixty-three  feet  over  all  in 
length,  with  a  fifty-one  foot  keel,  twenty  foot  beam,  and  a 
depth  of  ten  and  one-half  feet,  under  the  command  of  the 
"  Admiral "  himself,  as  he  was  pompously  called,  and 
thirty  on  the  still  smaller  "  Pinta,"  under  the  command  of 
"  Captain  "  Martin  Alonso  Pinzon,  while  the  still  more 
diminutive  cockle-shell  "  Nina  "  contained  the  formidable 
crew  of  twenty- four  under  the  command  of  the  brother 
of  Martin  Alonso,  the  redoubtable  "  Captain  "  Vincente 
Yanez  Pinzon.  And  then  to  think  that,  instead  of  being 
encouraged  and  lauded  for  his  enterprise,  the  prelude 
consisted  of  discouragement,  derision  and  persecution 
of  the  foolhardy  seaman  who  dared  to  brave  the  super- 
stitions of  the  age  and  the  unknown  ocean  which  was 
supposed  to  be  peopled  with  demons  and  monsters,  in 
quest  of  what  was  believed  to  be  an  absolutely  impossible 
pathway  to  China  and  the  East  Indies,  and  from  which 
there  could  not  be  any  hope  of  return.  A  model  of 
these  caravels  was  exhibited  in  the  Columbian  Exposi- 
tion at  Chicago,  in  1893,  at  the  sight  of  which  wonder 
grew  to  incredulity  that,  under  such  circumstances  as 
surrounded  this  first  voyage  of  Columbus,  any  one  should 
have  risked  his  life  in  such  a  craft. 

Even  assuming  with  John  Fiske  that  the  spherical  form 
of  the  earth  was  known  long  before  Columbus,  and  that 
he  derived  his  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  the  western- 
most shore  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  through  information 
which  he  received  of  the  voyages  of  the  Norsemen,  on 
his  visit  to  Iceland  in  1477,  his  opinion  that  the  same 
shore  might  be  reached  by  crossing  the  Atlantic,  where 
it  had  never  been  traversed  before,  was  based  upon  mere 
surmise.  No  wonder  that  his  crew  were  disheartened 

40 


and  on  the  verge  of  open  mutiny  when,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, after  about  sixty-nine  days  had  elapsed  since 
they  had  sailed  from  Palos  on  August  3,  1492,  they  had 
still  not  reached  the  longed-for  land.  What  faith,  almost 
inspired,  must  have  been  his,  that  he  should  succeed  in 
persuading  his  men  to  hold  out  only  a  few  days  more, 
and  how  strange  that  on  the  very  next  day,  the  seven- 
tieth of  his  voyage,  on  the  evening  of  October  n,  1492, 
the  long-wished-for  goal  should  be  descried  in  the  dim 
distance,  and  that  on  the  following  day  they  should  actu- 
ally disembark  from  their  floating  prisons  to  stand  once 
more  upon  solid  ground! 

The  artist  has  chosen  the  inspiring  moments  of  these 
two  events  to  immortalize  them  in  these  two  pictures: 
in  the  one,  the  three  tiny  barks  in  the  shadow  of  the 
evening,  still  in  the  gloom  and  uncertainty  of  what  the 
morrow  would  bring  forth — and  then,  in  the  other,  the 
brilliant  spectacle  of  Columbus  with  cross  uplifted,  in 
magnificent  regalia  of  scarlet  and  gold  and  purple,  and 
his  officers  with  the  standards  of  Castile  and  Leon,  and 
the  white  and  green  colors  of  the  expedition,  disembark- 
ing with  his  men  when  his  hopes  had  become  a  reality, 
for  the  purpose  of  claiming  the  newly  discovered  land. 

I  quote  from  Emilio  Castelar  the  following  description 
of  the  events  illustrated  by  these  pictures: 

"  Land !  land !  the  cry  fell  as  a  joyous  peal  upon  the 
ears  of  these  mariners  who  had  given  themselves  up  as 
lost  and  doomed  to  die  in  the  fathomless  vast. 

"  When  Columbus  heard  the  glad  cry  he  knelt  in  rapt- 
ure on  the  deck  and  with  clasped  hands  lifted  his  joy- 
filled  eyes  to  Heaven  and  intoned  the  '  Gloria  in  Excelsis  ' 
to  the  Author  of  all  things. 

"  The  signs  of  land  now  made  it  high  time  to  prepare 
for  the  debarkation  for  which  all  measures  had  been 
wisely  planned  by  the  admiral,  who  had  never  doubted 
the  realization  of  his  predictions. 

41 


"  Each  moment  brought  a  revelation.  A  solitary,  half- 
tamed  turtle-dove  flew  near  them  and  was  followed  by  a 
floating,  leafy  reed. 

"  About  two  in  the  morning  of  October  I2th,  amid  the 
sheen  of  the  stars  and  phosphorescence  of  the  sea,  one 
of  the  crew,  with  eyes  accustomed,  like  some  nocturnal 
creature,  to  the  darkness,  cried  '  Land !  land ! ' 


"  Columbus  donned  his  richest  apparel,  upon  his 
shoulders  a  cloak  of  rosy  purple,  and  grasped  in  one  hand 
the  sword  of  combat  and  in  the  other  the  Redeemer's 
cross;  then,  disembarking,  he  knelt  upon  the  land,  and, 
with  uplifted  arms,  joined  with  his  followers  in  the  Te 
Deum." 

In  these  paintings  much  is  left  to  the  imagination, 
which  renders  them  all  the  more  beautiful  and  poetical, 
although  also  in  them  the  artist  has  accurately  portrayed 
the  caravels,  costumes,  figures  and  indications  of  the 
nearby  shore,  so  that  the  scenes  are  vividly  brought  to 
mind  as  actually  described  in  the  journals  of  the  great 
navigator  himself  and  his  first  biographer,  his  own  son 
Ferdinand. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  author  to  write  history,  and 
yet  how  tempting,  in  the  study  of  these  pictures,  is  it  to 
reflect  upon  and  recall  the  romance  which  surrounds  the 
whole  life  of  Columbus  and  his  period :  the  honors  which 
he  received  on  his  return  to  Spain,  his  subsequent  two 
additional  voyages  of  discovery,  when,  to  those  of  the 
first,  consisting  of  San  Salvador,  Cuba,  and  the  other 
islands,  he  added  that  of  the  continent  of  South  America ; 
how  he  returned  from  his  third  voyage  in  chains  and 
afterwards  died  in  poverty  and  forgotten  at  Valladolid. 
on  May  20,  1506,  his  name  scarcely  mentioned  at  the  time 
in  the  records  of  that  town;  how  still  stranger  that 

42 


Columbus  never  knew  that  he  had  discovered  a  new  con- 
tinent, but  believed  that,  as  he  had  originally  intended, 
he  had  reached  the  shores  of  the  Indies  and  China  or 
Cathay  by  a  new  route,  and  therefore  gave  them  the  name 
which  has  ever  since  attached  to  the  islands  where  he 
first  landed,  of  the  West  Indies,  and  called  the  natives, 
Indians ;  and,  strangest  of  all,  that  four  hundred  and  six 
years  after  he  first  landed  at  San  Salvador,  the  remains 
of  the  great  discoverer  should  have  been  transferred  from 
the  cathedral  at  Havana  to  Spain,  the  scene  of  all  his 
triumphs  and  all  his  sorrows,  on  September  24,  1898,  just 
about  the  close  of  the  Spanish-American  war,  which  is 
celebrated  in  the  last  or  thirteenth  of  this  remarkable 
series  of  paintings. 

The  courage,  faith  and  fortitude  of  Columbus  in  per- 
sisting in  his  westward  journey,  in  full  confidence  that  he 
would  eventually  reach  the  shore  which  must  ever  have 
been  pictured  in  his  mind,  in  spite  of  the  doubts  and  fears 
and  protestations  of  his  weary  crew,  are  beautifully  and 
concisely  expressed  in  the  stanzas  of  Friedrich  Schiller :  * 

"  Brave  sailor,  steer  onward !    Though  the  jester  deride 
And  the  hand  of  the  pilot  the  helm  drops  in  fear ; 
Sail  on  to  the  West,  till  that  shore  is  descried 
Which  so  clearly  defined  to  thy  mind  doth  appear. 

"  Follow  God's  guiding  hand  and  the  great  silent  ocean ! 
For  the  shore,  were  it  not,  from  the  waves  it  would  rise. 
With  genius  is  nature  linked  in  such  bonds  of  devotion 
That  what  genius  presages,  nature  never  denies." 

*  It  is  difficult  to  preserve  the  full  beauty  of  the  original  of  these 
concise  verses  in  a  translation ;  but  in  attempting  this  I  have  found  it 
quite  as  easy  to  rhyme  them  as  to  reproduce  them  simply  in  the  blank 
verse  of  the  original,  in  which  rhymes  occur  in  only  two  lines. 

43 


MIDNIGHT  MASS  ON   THE 
MISSISSIPPI 

Over  the  Body  of  Ferdinand  de  Soto 

1542 


V. 


MIDNIGHT   MASS  ON  THE   MISSISSIPPI   OVER  THE  BODY  OF 
FERDINAND  DE  SOTO,  1542.* 

As  simple,  gloomy  and  severe  as  were  the  circum- 
stances surrounding  the  departure  of  the  expeditions  of 
Lief  Erickson  and  Columbus,  and  subsequently  of  Henry 
Hudson  and  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  so  brilliant,  hopeful  and 
coveted  was  the  journey  of  Fernando  De  Soto,  when  he 
set  sail  from  Spain  in  April,  1538,  to  conquer  Florida 
and  in  search  of  a  new  Eldorado.  Having  previously 
returned  from  the  conquest  of  Peru,  as  the  chief  lieuten- 
ant of  Francisco  Pizarro,  possessed  of  great  wealth,  and 
through  his  marriage  with  the  beautiful  Isabella  Boba- 
dilla  affiliated  with  the  highest  nobility,  and  having  been 
appointed  Governor  of  Cuba  by  Charles  V. — the  flower 
of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  aristocracy  flocked  to  his 
standard.  The  seven  large  and  three  small  ships,  includ- 
ing his  flag-ship,  the  "  San  Christoval,"  in  which  the  expe- 
dition set  sail,  were  fitted  out  with  great  splendor.  De 
Soto  was  then  forty-two  years  of  age,  having  been  born 
at  Xeres,  Spain,  in  1496,  while  his  followers  were  mostly 
young  men,  and  a  more  gorgeous  or  joyous  company 
cannot  be  imagined.  With  them  went  the  wife  of  De 
Soto  and  many  other  beautiful  women,  and  the  voyage 
was  one  round  of  pleasure  and  festivities.  After  land- 
ing and  wintering  in  Cuba  he  started  from  there  in  May, 
1539,  with  a  following  of  one  thousand  men  in  nine  ships, 
leaving  the  administration  of  Cuba  in  the  hands  of  his 

*  About  four  feet  long  by  two  and  one-half  feet  high. 
47 


wife  and  the  Lieutenant-Go vernor.  The  original  splendor 
was  preserved,  the  leaders  being  clad  in  gorgeous  armor 
and,  followed  by  a  host  of  servants  and  priests,  they  took 
with  them  all  manner  of  live  stock,  cattle,  horses,  mules, 
etc.,  and  were  provided  with  all  sorts  of  weapons  and 
trappings,    but    also,    significantly,    with    blood-hounds, 
handcuffs  and  iron  neck-collars.      Thus  they  landed  in 
Florida,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Tampa  Bay,  and  began 
their  march  northward  in  the  month  of  June,  1539,  the 
cavaliers  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  thirteen  on 
horseback,  and  the  rest  on  foot.     They  passed  the  winter 
near  the  present  Georgia  border,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1540  reached  the  location  of  the  present  city  of  Savannah. 
Instead  of  pacifying,  they  alienated  the  natives  through 
many  acts  of  hostility,  in  the  exuberance  of  their  youth 
and  prowess,  in  consequence  of  which  many  members  of 
the   expedition   were   killed   in   battle   and   others    died 
through   sickness   and   deprivation.      Nevertheless,   they 
pushed    on  still  further    westward  towards    the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  in  May,  1541,  discovered  and  crossed 
the   Mississippi  River  near  Lower  Chickasaw   Bluff,  a 
little  north  of  the  thirty-fourth  parallel  of  latitude,  in 
Tunica  County,  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Mississippi. 
On  again  reaching  the  Mississippi  on  the  return  march, 
De  Soto,  in  consequence  of  the  exposure  and  hardships 
to  which  he  had  been  subjected,  sank  down  with  a  fever 
from  which  he  died  on  May  21,  1542.     Owing  to  the  awe 
which  he  had  inspired  in  the  minds  of  the  natives  it  was 
deemed  wise  by  the  remnant  of  his  followers  to  conceal 
the  fact  of  his  death.     Accordingly  at  the  dead  of  night 
he  was  wrapped  in  a  flag,  in  which  sand  had  been  sown, 
and  taken  in  a  boat  to  the  middle  of  the  river,  and  amid 
the  glare  of  torches,  the  chanting  by  the  priests  of  the 
midnight  mass,  and  his  sorrowing  and  silent  companions, 
solemnly  consigned  to  the  depths  of  the  great  river. 
It  is  this  solemn  moment  which  the  artist  has  caught 

48 


in  the  painting  bearing  the  above  title.  As  in  all  the 
other  pictures  he  has,  also  in  this,  depicted  all  the  im- 
portant details  of  the  occasion  without  descending  to 
such  minute  particularity  that  the  painting  would  lose  its 
poetic  character.  The  sad  scene  recalls  vividly  to  the 
mind — in  contrast  with  the  high  hope  and  magnificent 
display  of  the  expedition  at  its  start — the  futility  of 
human  ambition. 

The  tone  of  the  picture  is  heightened  through  the 
mingling  of  the  pale  moonlight  with  the  lurid  reflection 
from  the  torches,  and  the  coloring  altogether  is  such  that 
it  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  occasion. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  the  subsequent  fate  of 
the  remnant  of  the  expedition,  except,  perhaps,  to  say 
that  the  picture  itself  gains  in  interest  by  contemplating 
that,  after  wandering  through  the  pathless  forests,  wad- 
ing swamps,  swimming  rivers  and  fighting  Indians  all 
the  time,  and  deprived  of  their  leader,  and  after  four  years 
of  hardships  from  the  time  that  the  expedition  set  out, 
those  who  were  left  made  their  way  to  Mexico.     In  the 
meantime  the  beautiful  wife  of  De  Soto  had  died  broken- 
hearted, and  never  was  there,  all  in  all,  a  more  tragic 
ending  to  an  expedition  commenced  amid  so  much  pomp 
and  glory  and  with   such   sanguine   expectations.     His 
longed-for  Eldorado  was  not  found,  and  yet  De  Soto, 
not  unlike    Columbus,  gained  immortality  more    surely 
than  if  his  expectations  had  been  realized ;  for  the  Father 
of  Waters,  the  greatest  river  in  the  world,  will  always  be 
associated  with  his  name,  and  the  acquisition  of  the  vast 
province  of  Louisiana  by  Spain  led  the  way  for  its  subse- 
quent transfer  to  the  United  States.     It  was  on  April  30, 
1803,  that  through  the  negotiations  conducted  by  James 
Monroe  and  Robert  Livingston  the  Province  of  Louisi- 
ana was  purchased  for  the  sum  of  about  $15,000,000 
from  France,  which  nation  had  prior  thereto  acquired  it 
from  Spain. 

49 


In  view  of  the  chapters  of  history  which  a  contempla- 
tion of  this  picture  recalls,  it  is  of  particular  interest 
during  this  year  (1904),  when  through  the  magnificent 
Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  we  are  celebrating  the 
centennial  anniversary  of  the  acquisition  by  the  United 
States  of  the  vast  territory,  which  before  De  Soto  and  his 
followers  the  foot  of  white  man  had  never  trod. 

50 


HENRY  HUDSON  ENTERING 
NEW  YORK  BAY 


(September  11,  1609) 


VI. 


HENRY    HUDSON    ENTERING    NEW    YORK    BAY,    SEPTEMBER 
II,  1609.* 

Previous  to  his  discovery  of  the  Hudson  River,  Henry 
Hudson,  an  Englishman,  sometimes  erroneously  called 
Hendrick  Hudson  because  the  ship  in  which  he  sailed 
was  fitted  out  under  the  auspices  of  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company  and  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
had  made  three  voyages  to  find  a  northwest  passage  to 
China  and  India.  To  reach  those  shores  via  the  Atlantic 
seems  to  have  been  the  goal  of  all  the  early  discoverers, 
including  Columbus  and  also  De  Soto,  who,  before  his 
Florida  expedition,  had  explored  the  coast  of  Central 
America,  on  the  Pacific  Ocean,  in  search  of  a  passage 
through  the  American  continent ;  and  even  Hudson  sailed 
up  the  Hudson  River  in  the  expectation  that  it  would 
lead  on  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  thus  to  Asia.  Hudson 
was  not  the  only  Englishman  who  had  received  encour- 
agement and  assistance  from  Holland  when  his  own  land 
had  failed  him,  the  same  as  did  the  Pilgrims  soon  there- 
after, when  they  sought  refuge  in  that  enlightened  and 
enterprising  country. 

He  sailed  from  Amsterdam  on  April  6,  1609,  in  a 
clumsy,  two-masted  craft  with  square  sails  called  the 
"  Half  Moon,"  a  Dutch  galiot  of  only  ninety  tons,  with  a 
crew  of  twenty  men,  in  an  extreme  northwesterly  direc- 
tion, but  being  driven  back  by  the  ice,  skirted  along  the 

*  About  eight  feet  long  by  four  and  one-half  feet  high. 
53 


Atlantic  coast,  passing  through  Casco  Bay,  Maine,  as  far 
south  as  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  thence  again  northward, 
and  entered  Raritan  Bay,  south  of  Staten  Island,  on 
September  n,  1609,  into  the  present  harbor  of  New 
York,  and,  on  September  I4th,  sailed  up  the  Hudson 
River  almost  as  far  as  Albany. 

The  return  voyage  down  the  Hudson  to  its  mouth, 
owing  to  adverse  winds,  occupied  eleven  days,  and  on 
November  7,  1609,  he  landed  at  Dartmouth,  England, 
where,  owing  to  the  jealousy  of  the  English  Government, 
the  crew  was  detained  and  his  ship  seized,  although  she 
had  borne  the  Dutch  flag  and  Hudson  had  claimed  the 
sovereignty  of  the  soil  for  that  country  over  that  portion 
of  the  American  continent  which  he  had  discovered.  It 
was  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  discovery,  as  the  first 
definite  historic  account  of  the  existence  of  this  part  of 
the  new  world  dated  from  this  voyage,  of  which  he  kept 
a  careful  journal,  however  probable  it  may  be  that,  before 
him,  other  Europeans  had  looked  upon  Manhattan  Island 
and  the  Hudson  River,  in  view  of  the  many  expeditions 
to  America  during  the  long  period  from  the  tenth  to  the 
seventeenth  centuries. 

The  discovery  of  Hudson  led  almost  immediately  to 
numerous  trading  voyages,  and  thereafter  to  temporary, 
and  then  to  regular  and  permanent  colonization,  and 
finally  to  the  foundation  of  the  great  City  of  New  York. 
Also  with  Hudson,  the  same  as  with  Columbus  and  De 
Soto,  is  thus  linked  a  discovery  far  greater  in  its  conse- 
quences than  if  he  had  succeeded  in  reaching  the  goal 
which  he  originally  set  out  to  find.  Like  theirs,  also  his 
ending  was  sad  and  tragic,  for  on  a  subsequent  north- 
western voyage,  his  mutinous  crew  cast  him,  together  with 
his  son  and  seven  of  his  faithful  men,  adrift  amid  the 
ice  of  Hudson  Bay,  which  bears  his  name,  thus  like  De 
Soto  perishing  in  the  very  waters  which  he  had  dis- 
covered. 

54 


His  life  is  wrapt  in  mystery;  nothing  is  known  of  it 
except  during  the  four  years  occupied  with  his  voyages 
(1607  to  1611),  and  that  he  was  probably  the  son  of 
Christopher  Hudson,  one  of  the  factors  of  the  Muscovy 
Company.  There  is  not  even  an  authentic  portrait  of  him 
in  existence. 

The  interest  of  this  painting  centers  in  the  scene,  which 
it  vividly  depicts,  of  the  effect  upon  the  natives  of  this 
first  sight  of  a  ship.  Nothing  could  be  more  intense  than 
the  expression  of  mingled  fear  and  defiant  surprise  por- 
trayed in  the  face  and  attitude  of  the  young  Indian 
warrior,  that  so  strange  an  object  should  dare  to  approach 
his  hitherto  undisputed  domain  of  the  shore.  This  in- 
terest is  heightened  through  the  grouping  of  the  squaw 
and  Indian  dog,  with  the  Indian  hut  or  tepee  in  the  back- 
ground on  the  edge  of  the  forest,  and  the  rocky  shore 
in  the  foreground.  The  ship  itself  is  subordinated  to 
the  representation  of  this  idea,  being  only  dimly  seen  in 
the  distance. 

Through  this  conception,  the  artist  was  enabled  to 
present  a  picture  which  adds  to  the  variety  of  the  series, 
and  at  the  same  time  demonstrates  his  surpassing  mastery 
of  figure  and  landscape  painting  as  well. 

55 


EMBARKATION  OF  THE  PILGRIMS 

From  Southampton 


(August  5,  1620) 


VII. 


EMBARKATION    OF    THE    PILGRIMS    FROM     SOUTHAMPTON, 
AUGUST  5,  l62O.* 

A  sadder  journey  than  that  of  the  Pilgrims,  both  in  its 
inception  in  leaving  home  and  kindred  and  fleeing  from 
persecution,  and  in  its  ending  in  the  inconceivable  hard- 
ships which  they  had  to  endure  in  the  new  world,  was 
probably  never  undertaken  than  when,  on  August  5,  1620, 
the  "  Mayflower  "  sailed  out  of  the  harbor  of  Southamp- 
ton. 

It  must  have  been  with  heavy  hearts  and  the  gloomi- 
est forebodings,  and  yet  buoyed  up  with  the  hope  of  find- 
ing a  permanent  refuge  beyond  the  ocean,  for  the  exercise 
of  that  freedom  of  conscience  for  which  they  had  previ- 
ously found  only  a  temporary  abode  at  Leyden,  Holland, 
that  the  hundred  brave  men  and  women,  representing 
twenty-three  different  families,  consigned  their  lives  and 
fortunes  into  the  hands  of  the  crew  of  the  little  one 
hundred  and  sixty  ton  vessel  that  for  almost  five  long 
months  was  to  battle  with  storm  and  winds  across  the 
dreaded  Atlantic,  until  on  December  21,  1620,  they  an- 
chored on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts,  and,  with  that 
spirit  of  loyalty,  still,  to  the  land  from  which  they  had 
fled,  named  the  spot  where  they  first  landed,  Plymouth 
Rock,  to  which  they  had  been  driven  in  the  stress  and 
storm,  instead  of  reaching  the  Virginia  colony,  for  which 
they  had  set  sail. 

*  About  four  feet  long  by  about  two  and  one-half  feet  high. 
59 


What  that  departure  of  the  Pilgrims  from  England 
meant  to  those  left  behind  on  the  shore  at  Southampton 
can  hardly  be  conceived  by  those  who,  in  our  day,  at  some 
magnificent  steamship  pier,  amid  the  strains  of  music  and 
a  shower  of  flowers,  now  and  anon  wave  a  farewell  to 
their  friends,  perhaps  bound  on  a  pleasure  tour  in  some 
leviathan  of  the  ocean,  of  twenty  thousand  or  more  tons 
burden,  and  fitted  up  in  more  regal  splendor  than  the 
most  gorgeous  palaces  of  the  age  of  the  Pilgrims. 

It  is  to  the  sadness  of  this  departure  that  the  artist, 
in  this  canvas,  has  undertaken  to  give  expression  in  the 
mournful  group  of  friends  on  the  shore,  waving  a  final 
farewell  and  wistfully  gazing  at  the  "  Mayflower,"  lying 
in  mid-water  and  evidently  waiting  for  the  last  passengers 
to  arrive  before  setting  sail  on  its  perilous  voyage  into 
the  mysterious  darkness  of  the  approaching  night.  There 
is  a  mellow  gray  light  of  evening  diffused  throughout 
this  painting  which  is  almost  indescribable,  with  the  moon 
casting  its  rays  across  the  water,  so  perfectly  is  it  in  har- 
mony with  the  thread  of  the  whole  story  which  is  sug- 
gested by  this  inimitable  picture. 

I  can  think  of  no  more  fitting  words  to  accompany  this 
canvas  than  those  of  Edward  Everett,  in  his  oration  at 
Plymouth,  on  December  22,  1824,  on  "  The  Emigration 
of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  " : 

"  Methinks  I  see  it  now,  that  one  solitary,  adventurous 
vessel,  the  '  Mayflower '  of  a  forlorn  hope,  freighted  with 
the  prospects  of  a  future  State,  and  bound  across  the 
unknown  sea.  I  behold  it  pursuing,  with  a  thousand 
misgivings,  the  uncertain,  the  tedious  voyage.  Suns  rise 
and  set,  and  weeks  and  months  pass,  and  winter  sur- 
prises them  on  the  deep,  but  brings  them  not  the  sight 
of  the  wished-for  shore.  I  see  them  now  scantily  sup- 
plied with  provisions,  crowded  almost  to  suffocation  in 
their  ill-stored  prison,  delayed  by  calms,  pursuing  a  cir- 

60 


cuitous  route ;  and  now  driven  in  fury  before  the  raging 
tempest,  on  the  high  and  giddy  waves.  The  awful 
voice  of  the  storm  howls  through  the  rigging.  The  labor- 
ing masts  seem  straining  from  their  base;  the  dismal 
sound  of  the  pumps  is  heard ;  the  ship  leaps,  as  it  were, 
madly  from  billow  to  billow ;  the  ocean  breaks,  and  settles 
with  engulfing  floods  over  the  floating  deck,  and  beats 
with  deadening  weight  against  the  staggered  vessel.  I 
see  them,  escaped  from  these  perils,  pursuing  their  all 
but  desperate  undertaking,  and  landed  at  last,  after  five 
months'  passage,  on  the  ice-clad  rocks  of  Plymouth, — 
weak  and  weary  from  the  voyage,  poorly  armed,  scantily 
provisioned,  depending  on  the  charity  of  their  shipmaster 
for  a  draft  of  beer  on  board,  drinking  nothing  but  water 
on  shore,  without  shelter,  without  means,  surrounded  by 
hostile  tribes." 

What  an  extraordinary  coincidence  it  is  that  a  Dutch 
slaver,  laden  with  slaves  for  Virginia,  should  be  on  the 
ocean  at  the  same  time  with  the  "  Mayflower,"  in  whose 
cabin  was  written  the  first  charter  of  independence,  the 
first  American  constitution,  in  the  words  following: 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  Amen.  We  whose  names  are 
underwritten,  the  loyal  subjects  of  our  dread  sovereign 
Lord,  King  James,  by  the  grace  of  God,  of  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  Ireland  king,  defender  of  the  faith,  etc.,  hav- 
ing undertaken,  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  advancement 
of  the  Christian  faith,  and  honor  of  our  king  and  country, 
a  voyage  to  plant  the  first  colony  in  the  northern  parts  of 
Virginia,  do  by  these  presents  solemnly  and  mutually  in 
the  presence  of  God,  and  one  of  another,  covenant  and 
combine  ourselves  together  into  a  civil  body  politic,  for 
our  better  ordering  and  preservation  and  furtherance  of 
the  ends  aforesaid;  and  by  virtue  hereof  to  enact,  con- 
stitute, and  frame  such  just  and  equal  laws,  ordinances, 

6l 


acts,  constitutions,  and  offices,  from  time  to  time,  as  shall 
be  thought  most  meet  and  convenient  for  the  general 
good  of  the  Colony,  unto  which  we  promise  all  due  sub- 
mission and  obedience." 

What  but  a  reflection  of  these  words  is  the  memorable 
preamble  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  framed 
by  the  convention  of  1787 : 

"  We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form 
a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic 
tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote 
the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty 
to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  this  Constitution 
for  the  United  States  of  America." 

What  a  debt  of  gratitude  we  owe  to  the  leaders  of  that 
expedition,  Carver,  Winslow,  Bradford  and  Standish, 
who  thus  planted  this  colony  in  the  United  States,  prac- 
tically the  first  after  that  in  Virginia — but  also  to  the 
great  artist  who  fortunately  came  from  the  shores  of  the 
same  England  to  immortalize,  through  this  beautiful  pict- 
ure, the  first  scene  in  the  drama  whose  culmination  is 
the  establishment  of  the  greatest  republic  that  the  world 
has  ever  seen! 


"  There  were  men  with  hoary  hair 

Amidst  that  pilgrim-band: 
Why  had  they  come  to  wither  there, 
Away  from  their  childhood's  land  ? 

"  There  was  woman's  fearless  eye, 

Lit  by  her  deep  love's  truth ; 
There  was  manhood's  brow  serenely  high, 
And  the  fiery  heart  of  youth. 
62 


"  What  sought  they  thus  afar  ? 
Bright  jewels  of  the  mine? 
The  wealth  of  seas,  the  spoils  of  war? — 
They  sought  a  faith's  pure  shrine ! 

"  Ay,  call  it  holy  ground, 

The  soil  where  first  they  trod ; 
They  have  left  unstained  what  there  they  found- 
Freedom  to  worship  God." 

FELICIA  HEMANS. 
63 


FIRST  RECOGNITION  OF  THE 
AMERICAN   FLAG 

By  a  Foreign  Government 


(In  the  Harbor  of  Quiberon,  France,  February  13,  7778) 


VIII. 

FIRST  RECOGNITION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  FLAG  BY  A  FOREIGN 
GOVERNMENT. 

In  the  Harbor  of  Quiberon,  France,  February  13,  1778.* 

"  When  Freedom,  from  her  mountain  height, 

Unfurled  her  standard  to  the  air, 
She  tore  the  azure  robe  of  night 

And  set  the  stars  of  glory  there! 
She  mingled  with  its  gorgeous  dyes 
The  milky  baldric  of  the  skies, 
And  striped  its  pure,  celestial  white 
With  streakings  of  the  morning  light." 

DRAKE. 

Between  the  time  of  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  and 
the  event  represented  in  this  picture  one  hundred  and 
fifty-eight  years  had  elapsed.  The  hardy  pioneers  who 
had  ventured  across  the  ocean  in  considerable  numbers 
had  increased  to  thirteen  colonies,  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  had  been  signed,  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion was  being  fought,  a  preliminary  confederation  had 
been  formed  among  the  thirteen  States,  the  first  American 
Congress  had  met,  and  this,  on  June  14,  1777,  "  Resolved 
that  the  flag  of  the  thirteen  United  States  be  thirteen 
stripes,  alternate  red  and  white ;  and  the  Union  be  thirteen 
white  stars  on  a  blue  field,"  and  on  the  same  day  had 
*  About  six  feet  long  by  about  three  and  one-third  feet  high. 
67 


appointed  John  Paul  Jones,  usually  known  as  Paul  Jones, 
to  the  command  of  the  "  Ranger,"  who  soon  thereafter 
hoisted  the  new  flag  on  board  that  vessel  at  Portsmouth. 
The  "  Ranger  "  set  out  to  sea  about  November  ist,  her 
battery  consisting  of  sixteen  six-pounders,  throwing  only 
forty-eight  pounds  of  shot  from  a  broadside,  an  arma- 
ment which  appears  grotesquely  liHiputian  in  comparison 
with  the  thirteen-inch  guns,  firing  projectiles  of  over  half 
a  ton  from  our  steel-armored  battleships  of  to-day,  which 
cost  as  much  as  five  million  dollars  and  are  of  16,000 
tons  burden.  With  this  little  ship  he  sailed  to  Europe, 
capturing  two  prizes  on  the  way,  and,  after  touching  at 
Nantes,  sailed  to  Quiberon  Bay,  east  of  Quiberon,  on  the 
Bay  of  Biscay,  a  small  town  and  peninsula  about  twenty- 
two  miles  south-east  of  Lorient,  convoying  some  Amer- 
ican vessels,  and  placing  them  under  the  protection  of  the 
French  fleet  commanded  by  Admiral  La  Motte  Piquet. 
The  story  represented  in  this  picture  he  tells  in  his  own 
language  in  a  letter  to  the  Naval  Committee,  dated  Feb- 
ruary 22,  1778:  "  I  am  happy  to  have  it  in  my  power  to 
congratulate  on  my  having  seen  the  American  flag  for 
the  first  time  recognized  in  the  fullest  and  completest 
manner  by  the  flag  of  France."  He  then  recounts  how, 
after  preliminary  communications  with  the  Admiral,  the 
latter  thus  honored  the  flag  on  February  I3th,  which  he 
characterized  as  "  an  acknowledgment  of  American  in- 
dependence." 

This,  as  well  as  each  of  the  five  subsequent  paintings, 
depicts  an  important  event  in  the  history  of  our  navy, 
and  must  be  dear  to  every  American  heart  in  the  incident 
which  is  thus  perpetuated.  The  American  flag  is  proudly 
displayed  from  the  masthead  and  stern  of  the  "  Ranger," 
and  the  coloring  is  so  adjusted  that  the  flag  appears  to 
wave  in  the  brightest  light  of  the  picture.  The  smoke 
of  the  booming  cannon  from  the  French  fleet,  the  motion 
of  the  water,  and  the  row-boats  evidently  plying  in  friendly 

63 


intercourse  among  the  ships,  the  sky  effect — all  together 
combine  to  produce  a  piece  of  superb  marine  painting. 

Space  forbids  dwelling  upon  the  exceptional,  romantic, 
daring  and  successful  career  of  Paul  Jones,  who  was 
born  in  Scotland  on  July  6,  1747,  and  died  in  Paris  on 
July  1 8,  1792,  the  first  of  that  long  list  of  heroic  figures 
which  have  made  the  history  of  the  American  navy  so 
illustrious. 

"  The  man  that  is  not  moved  at  what  he  reads, 
That  takes  not  fire  at  their  heroic  deeds, 
Unworthy  of  the  blessings  of  the  brave, 
Is  base  in  kind,  and  born  to  be  a  slave." 

COWPER. 
69 


Note. — Additional  interest  is  lent  to  this  canvas  through  the  fact  that 
quite  recently  (April,  1905)  the  remains  of  John  Paul  Jones,  the  hero 
of  the  occasion,  were  discovered  in  Paris,  and  are  to  be  interred  in  the 
United  States. 


(In  the  Harbor  of  Tripoli,  February  16,  1804) 


Copyright,  1898,  by  Edward  Moran. 


IX. 


BURNING  OF  THE  FRIGATE  PHILADELPHIA. 

In  the  Harbor  of  Tripoli,  February  16,  1804.* 

This  canvas  represents  one  of  the  most  daring  feats 
ever  performed  in  naval  warfare,  equalled  only,  perhaps, 
by  the  exploit  of  Lieutenant  Hobson  in  sinking  the  collier 
"  Merrimac  "  in  the  harbor  of  Santiago  during  the  Span- 
ish-American war  of  1898.  Lord  Nelson  characterized 
the  burning  of  the  "  Philadelphia  "  as  the  most  daring 
act  of  the  age.  The  "  Philadelphia  "  was  the  sister  ship 
of  the  famous  "  Constitution,"  and  under  the  command 
of  Captain  Bainbridge  had  been  despatched  to  Tripoli  to 
demand  satisfaction  for  losses  suffered  by  our  merchant 
marine  at  the  hands  of  Algerian  pirates,  who  had  been 
preying  upon  the  commerce  of  the  world  for  years.  Ar- 
riving on  the  Algerian  coast,  she  was  led  upon  a  reef  by 
pirates  whom  she  was  chasing,  her  officers  and  crew  were 
taken  prisoners,  her  guns  were  thrown  overboard,  and 
she  was  taken  into  the  harbor  by  her  captors,  and  there 
remanned,  regunned  and  made  ready  to  defend  the  city 
against  the  other  American  ships  which  were  blockading 
the  port. 

From  his  prison  Captain  Bainbridge  managed  to  get 
into  communication  with  the  American  fleet,  and  to  sug- 

*  This  is  the  only  upright  canvas  of  the  series,  being  about  five 
feet  in  height  by  about  three  and  one-half  feet  in  width. 

73 


gest  the  feasibility  of  destroying  the  "  Philadelphia." 
Acting  upon  this  suggestion  Lieutenant  Decatur  under- 
took the  perilous  task.  Decatur  had  sailed  into  the 
harbor  of  Tripoli  in  the  frigate  "  United  States  "  in  the 
Preble  expedition  and  captured  a  small  Tripolitan  vessel, 
which  was  renamed  the  "  Intrepid."  In  her,  with  a 
crew  of  seventy-four  brave  volunteers,  and  accompanied 
by  the  "  Siren,"  he  sailed  straight  up  to  the  "  Phila- 
delphia "  in  the  evening,  sprang  on  board  with  his  men, 
and  after  a  furious  struggle  and  under  the  fire  of  the 
coast  batteries,  whose  cannon  swept  the  approach  to 
the  "  Philadelphia,"  the  Americans  either  killed  or 
drove  into  the  sea  all  the  Tripolitans  on  board  the 
"  Philadelphia,"  which  was  set  on  fire,  while  the  "  In- 
trepid," with  the  assistance  of  the  "  Siren,"  escaped  with- 
out the  loss  of  a  single  man.  It  was  a  deed  of  marvellous 
bravery,  so  much  so  that  on  November  15,  1804,  Thomas 
Jefferson  sent  a  special  message  to  Congress  stating  that 
Lieutenant  Decatur  had  been  advanced  to  be  a  Captain, 
and  it  is  not  surprising  that  so  brave  a  seaman  gradually 
rose  to  the  rank  of  Commodore  in  the  United  States  navy. 
He  was  the  hero  of  many  subsequent  brilliant  exploits, 
principally  in  foreign  waters,  and  effectually  showed  the 
nations  of  Europe  how  to  put  an  end  to  the  piracy  and 
insolence  of  the  Barbary  States,  which  had  lasted  for 
nearly  three  centuries.  He  was  the  recipient  of  many 
distinguished  honors,  and  was  presented  with  a  sword 
by  Congress  for  his  share  in  the  destruction  of  the 
"  Philadelphia,"  and  in  1812  with  a  gold  medal  for  his 
capture  of  the  British  frigate  "  Macedonian  "  by  his  own 
ship  the  "  United  States."  His  patriotic  devotion  to  his 
country  is  well  exemplified  in  a  toast  which  he  proposed 
in  1816  on  the  occasion  of  a  banquet  which  was  tendered 
to  him :  "  Our  Country !  In  her  intercourse  with  foreign 
nations,  may  she  always  be  in  the  right ;  but  our  Country, 
right  or  wrong." 

74 


Decatur  was  born  in  Maryland  on  January  5,  1779, 
and  died  on  March  22,  1820,  in  a  duel  with  Commodore 
Barron. 

Andrew  Jackson,  in  his  first  annual  message  to  Con- 
gress on  December  8,  1829,  referred  to  the  heroic  deed 
represented  in  this  painting  in  the  following  language : 

"  I  cannot  close  this  communication  without  bringing 
to  your  view  the  just  claim  of  the  representatives  of 
Commodore  Decatur,  his  officers  and  crew,  arising  from 
the  recapture  of  the  frigate  '  Philadelphia '  under  the 
heavy  batteries  of  Tripoli.  Although  sensible,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  of  the  impropriety  of  Executive  interference 
under  a  Government  like  ours,  where  every  individual  en- 
joys the  right  of  directly  petitioning  Congress,  yet,  view- 
ing this  case  as  one  of  very  peculiar  character,  I  deem  it 
my  duty  to  recommend  it  to  your  favorable  consideration. 
Besides  the  justice  of  this  claim,  as  corresponding  to 
those  which  have  been  since  recognized  and  satisfied,  it 
is  the  fruit  of  a  deed  of  patriotic  and  chivalrous  daring 
which  infused  life  and  confidence  into  our  infant  navy 
and  contributed  as  much  as  any  exploit  in  its  history  to 
elevate  our  national  character.  Public  gratitude,  there- 
fore, stamps  her  seal  upon  it,  and  the  meed  should  not 
be  withheld  which  may  hereafter  operate  as  a  stimulus 
to  our  gallant  tars." 

The  burning  of  the  "  Philadelphia  "  is  one  of  the  most 
striking  pictures  in  the  series.  The  effect  of  the  mount- 
ing flames  against  the  moonless  and  midnight  sky  is 
impressive  and  spectacular,  and  their  lurid  reflection  in 
the  water,  with  a  glimpse  of  the  Algerian  fort  and  bat- 
teries in  the  background  to  the  right,  and  the  little  vessel 
of  Decatur,  fittingly  named  the  "  Intrepid,"  skimming 
along  the  water  away  from  the  burning  ship,  with  swell- 
ing sail  and  powerful  stroke  of  oar,  with  the  dense  masses 

75 


of  smoke  rising  to  the  extreme  height  of  the  painting 
and  a  shower  of  burning  embers  descending  into  the 
water — produce  an  effect,  so  vivid  and  realistic,  of  a  great 
conflagration,  that  the  eye  is  riveted  to  the  scene  with 
never-failing  interest. 

76 


THE  BRIG  ARMSTRONG  ENGAGING 
THE  BRITISH  FLEET 


(In  the  Harbor  of  Fay  at,  September  26,  1814) 


X. 

THE  BRIG  ARMSTRONG  ENGAGING  THE  BRITISH  FLEET. 

In  the  Harbor  of  Fayal,  September  26,  1814.* 

It  is  difficult  to  discriminate,  in  awarding  the  meed  of 
praise  for  bravery,  amid  the  many  heroic  deeds  of  the 
American  navy.  For  fighting  qualities  and  success  in 
repulsing  overwhelming  numbers  the  exploit  of  Captain 
Samuel  Chester  Reid,  in  his  battle  with  the  British  sea- 
men which  this  picture  illustrates,  has  never  been  sur- 
passed. It  was  on  the  26th  of  September,  1814,  that  the 
privateer,  the  brig  "  Armstrong,"  which  had  been  fitted 
out  in  New  York,  cast  anchor  in  the  harbor  of  Fayal,  one 
of  the  Azores,  belonging  to  the  neutral  government  of 
Portugal.  About  the  same  time  three  British  ships,  the 
"  Plantagenet,"  the  "  Carnation  "  and  the  "  Rota,"  under 
the  command  of  Commodore  Lloyd,  appeared  in  the  same 
harbor,  and  without  further  ceremony  sent  out  four  boat 
loads  of  men  towards  the  brig  "  Armstrong,"  evidently 
with  hostile  intention.  Captain  Reid,  realizing  the  futil- 
ity of  relying  upon  the  protection  of  the  impotent  Portu- 
guese authorities,  prepared  for  the  worst,  and,  on  receiv- 
ing a  threatening  response  to  a  challenge  which  he 
addressed  to  the  approaching  boats,  he  unhesitatingly 
opened  fire.  As  his  crew  consisted  of  only  ninety  men, 
his  armament  of  eight  nine-pounders,  with  only  the 
famous  "  Long  Tom,"  a  twenty- four  pounder  (which  was 

*  About  five  and  one-half  feet  long  by  about  three  feet  high. 
79 


exhibited  at  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago  in  1893)  as  a 
gun  of  any  consequence  to  rely  upon,  while  the  enemy 
numbered  over  two  thousand  men  and  had  a  combined 
armament  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  guns,  the  hardi- 
hood of  this  initial  proceeding  will  be  apparent.  After 
having  suffered  some  loss  in  killed  and  wounded,  three 
of  the  enemy's  boats  beat  a  hasty  retreat,  the  fourth 
having  been  sunk,  but  about  midnight  the  attack  was 
renewed  by  fourteen  boats,  loaded  to  the  guards  with  at 
least  four  hundred  men.  Captain  Reid  with  his  men 
fought  like  tigers,  and  "  Long  Tom,"  under  the  command 
of  William  Copeland,  mowed  down  the  enemy  without 
giving  them  a  chance  to  carry  out  their  evident  inten- 
tion of  capturing  the  ship.  The  battle  lasted  only  forty 
minutes,  but  during  this  time  two  boats  of  the  enemy 
had  been  captured  and  two  sunk,  and  nearly  three 
hundred  of  their  men  either  killed  or  wounded,  while 
Reid  achieved  a  complete  victory  with  the  loss  of  only 
two  men  killed  and  seven  wounded.  A  third  attack  was 
made  by  the  enemy  soon  after  daybreak,  this  time  directly 
with  the  guns  of  the  brig  "  Carnation,"  but  "  Long  Tom," 
with  its  twenty-four  pound  shots,  did  so  much  damage  to 
the  hull  of  the  enemy's  ship  that  she  was  forced  to  with- 
draw, thus  leaving  the  victory  for  the  third  time  with 
Captain  Reid.  Having  so  far  succeeded  in  warding 
off  the  enemy,  Captain  Reid  thereupon,  however,  realiz- 
ing the  futility  of  continuing  to  fight  against  such  odds, 
left  the  brig,  after  having  scuttled  and  set  her  on  fire,  and 
reached  the  shore  in  safety.  There  the  inhabitants  of  the 
town  did  all  in  their  power  to  care  for  the  wounded  and 
protect  the  brave  little  band,  who  had  barricaded  them- 
selves in  a  small  stone  church ;  and  a  demand  made  by  the 
British  commander  for  their  surrender,  on  the  ground 
that  there  were  deserters  among  them,  proved  futile,  as 
the  charge  could  not  be  established. 

Subsequently     the     Portuguese     Government     raised 

80 


"  Long  Tom,"  the  historic  gun  of  the  "  Armstrong,"  and 
presented  it  to  the  United  States  Government,  and  in 
January,  1887,  Samuel  C.  Reid,  the  son  and  namesake  of 
the  valiant  Captain,  offered  through  President  Cleveland 
to  the  United  States  the  battle  sword  of  his  father — thus 
preserving  these  two  invaluable  relics  as  mementos  of 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  sea-fights  in  history. 

Years  later,  Louis  Napoleon,  then  Emperor  of  France, 
undertook  to  arbitrate  the  claims  of  the  United  States 
Government  against  the  British  Government  for  the  loss 
of  the  "  Armstrong,"  but  decided  in  favor  of  the  British 
on  the  ground  that  Captain  Reid  had  opened  fire  on  the 
British  ships  and  thereby  had  failed  to  respect  the 
neutrality  of  the  port  and  must  abide  the  result  of  his 
commencing  hostilities. 

The  owners  of  the  "  Armstrong  "  made  repeated  efforts 
to  obtain  redress  for  the  loss  of  their  ship,  but  it  was  not 
until  the  year  1897  (about  the  time  that  Mr.  Moran  fin- 
ished this  painting)  that  some  money  was  received,  and, 
strange  to  say,  paid  over  to  the  widow  of  the  owner,  Mr. 
Havens,  the  old  lady  then  being  ninety-eight  years  of  age. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  recall  that  it  was  Captain  Reid 
who,  about  the  year  1817,  designed  the  present  flag  of 
the  United  States,  which  for  a  time  had  been  altered  to 
fifteen  stripes  to  designate  the  number  of  States  to  which 
the  country  had  increased.  On  the  suggestion  of  Captain 
Reid  the  number  was  again  reduced  to  thirteen,  and  the 
addition  of  the  States  designated  by  the  number  of  stars 
in  the  blue  field.  This  was  adopted  by  Act  of  Congress 
on  April  4,  1818,  and  the  first  flag  that  was  flung  to  the 
breeze,  under  the  new  law,  was  made  by  Mrs.  Reid,  the 
wife  of  the  gallant  Captain,  the  stars  in  the  blue  field 
being  arranged  at  that  time  in  the  shape  of  a  constella- 
tion constituting  one  great  star. 

Besides  the  glory  which  Captain  Reid  achieved  through 
his  wonderful  exploit  at  Fayal — all  the  more  wonderful 

Si 


if  it  is  remembered  that  he  and  his  men  were  volunteer 
seamen,  untrained  in  the  regular  navy  of  the  United  States 
— he  had  rendered  his  country  a  service  far  greater  even 
than  this  feat  of  arms.  It  so  happened  that  the  ships  of 
Commodore  Lloyd  were  bound  for  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
to  assist  in  the  attack  upon  New  Orleans ;  but  by  reason 
of  the  injury  and  demoralization  inflicted  on  them  by 
Captain  Reid  they  were  delayed  long  enough  to  prevent 
their  co-operating  with  the  British  General,  Sir  Edward 
Packenham,  in  an  earlier  attack  upon  New  Orleans,  as 
originally  contemplated,  when  General  Jackson  was  not 
prepared  to  meet  and  defeat  the  enemy ;  the  consequence 
of  which  might  have  been  the  loss  to  the  United  States 
of  the  entire  Province  of  Louisiana,  which  had  only  a 
decade  before  been  acquired  from  France. 

Captain  Reid  was  born  at  Norwich,  Connecticut,  on 
August  25,  1783,  and  died  at  the  venerable  age  of  seventy- 
eight  at  New  York  on  January  28,  1861,  on  the  very  eve 
of  our  great  Civil  War,  having  enjoyed  many  honors, 
among  them  an  appointment  as  Warden  of  the  Port  of 
New  York. 

Not  only  on  account  of  the  extraordinary  character  of 
the  fight  itself,  but  also  on  account  of  its  indirect  conse- 
quences, in  assisting  to  bring  the  War  of  1812  to  a  close, 
is  this  painting  of  the  greatest  interest.  It  measures  full 
up  to  the  excellence  of  the  other  numbers  of  the  series, 
notwithstanding  the  immediate  subject  was  not  one  which 
presented  the  most  graphic  material  for  the  brush  of  the 
painter.  Mr.  Moran  chose  the  most  thrilling  incident  of 
the  fight  in  depicting  the  firing  of  the  brig  on  the  ap- 
proaching row-boats  of  the  enemy.  This  he  has  accom- 
plished with  consummate  skill.  He  has  herein,  as  in  all 
his  other  battle  scenes  on  the  water,  avoided  the  portrayal 
of  carnage  and  destruction  of  human  life  in  lurid  colors 
as  is  the  custom  with  most  painters.  He  has  left  these 
abhorrent  scenes  to  the  imagination,  and  has  thereby 


rendered  his  pictures,  while  suggesting  all  the  dreadful 
accompaniments  of  warfare,  chaste,  and  free  from  scenes 
which  are  revolting  to  the  feelings. 

The  picture  is  perfect  in  itself,  in  its  representation  of 
the  position  of  the  "  Armstrong,"  swayed,  as  it  evidently 
is,  through  the  powerful  blasts  from  its  own  twenty-four 
pounder — the  fire  of  the  rifles  from  the  men  in  the  Brit- 
ish row-boats — the  buildings  on  the  shore  in  the  back- 
ground on  the  left,  with  the  suggestion  of  the  hills  on 
which  the  town  is  built  and  the  British  ships  in  the  offing 
on  the  right — with  the  rising  moon  in  the  distance — 
and  the  shores  of  Fayal  dimly  defined  upon  the  horizon, 
extending,  as  they  do  in  fact,  with  their  two  widening 
arms  around  the  harbor. 

83 


IRON  VERSUS  WOOD 

Sinking  of  the  Cumberland  by  the 
Merrimac 


(In  Hampton  Roads,  March  8,  1862) 


XI. 


IRON    VERSUS    WOOD SINKING    OF    THE    CUMBERLAND    BY 

THE     MERRIMAC. 

In  Hampton  Roads,  March  8,  1862.* 

The  title  of  this  picture  suggests  not  only  the  unequal 
character  of  the  fight  which  the  wooden  ship  "  Cumber- 
land "  fought  against  the  iron-clad  "  Merrimac,"  the  first 
iron-clad  that  ever  sailed  in  American  waters,  but  also 
recalls  to  mind  the  contrast  between  the  steel-armored 
battleships  of  the  navies  of  the  world  of  to-day  and  the 
wooden  hulks  which  prevailed  up  to  that  time.  It  is  a 
long  span  of  time  from  the  battle  of  brave  Captain  Reid 
in  the  harbor  of  Fayal  in  1814  to  the  year  1861,  but  dur- 
ing that  half  century  little  progress  had  been  made  in 
supplying  the  ships  of  our  navy  with  protecting  devices, 
as  there  had  likewise  been  little  occasion  for  naval  war- 
fare. In  fact,  outside  of  the  Mexican  War  and  fights 
with  the  Indians,  the  country  was  at  peace  with  itself  as 
well  as  with  the  outside  world,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
great  struggle  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  called 
the  whole  country  to  arms,  both  on  sea  and  land,  that  the 
opportunity  was  again  presented  for  the  shedding  of 
additional  lustre  on  our  naval  history. 

The  most  thrilling  and  startling  of  all  the  events  on 
the  sea,  during  this  sanguinary  conflict,  followed  when, 
at  noon  on  March  8,  1862,  a  novel  craft,  such  as  had 

*  About  four  and  one.quarter  feet  long  by  about  three  feet  high. 

87 


never  been  seen  before,  was  cut  loose  from  her  moorings 
in  Norfolk,  and,  after  having  steamed  down  the  Elizabeth 
River,  was  seen  to  head  boldly  for  Newport  News,  where 
lay  the  United  States  frigate  "  Congress  "  of  fifty  guns, 
under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Joseph  B.  Smith,  and 
the  twenty-four  gun  sloop  of  war  "  Cumberland,"  in 
charge  of  Lieutenant  George  U.  Morris  during  the  tem- 
porary absence  of  its  commander,  William  Radford,  two 
of  the  fleet  of  national  ships,  all  riding  at  anchor  in 
fancied  security,  without  a  thought  of  the  death  and 
destruction  which  the  appearance  of  the  stranger  por- 
tended. It  was  an  odd-looking  craft — the  "  Merrimac," 
as  it  is  generally  called — more  like  a  house  afloat  than  a 
war  ship,  and  the  officers  of  the  Federal  ships  were  at 
first  inclined  to  belittle  its  importance.  The  undertaking 
of  the  "  Merrimac  "  itself  (or  "  Virginia,"  as  she  was 
called  by  the  Confederates)  was  one  of  great  courage, 
the  vessel  in  its  last  stages  having  but  just  been  converted 
into  an  iron-clad,  in  great  haste,  out  of  the  hulk  of  a 
sunken  old  style  man-of-war  (the  "Merrimac"),  which 
had  been  raised  by  the  Confederates.  The  experiment 
was  a  new  one ;  the  men  had  not  been  drilled ;  its  arma- 
ment had  never  been  tested,  and  its  commander,  Commo- 
dore Buchanan,  had  only  recently  arisen  from  a  sick-bed. 
He  had  been  a  Union  officer  in  the  regular  navy,  and  as 
such  had  placed  the  entire  naval  service  under  great 
obligations  in  being  the  first  to  have  located  the  Naval 
Academy  at  Annapolis  under  a  commission  from  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy.  When  it  was  realized  by  the 
commanders  of  the  American  ships  that  the  "  Merrimac  " 
was  steaming  towards  them  in  dead  earnest  there  was 
hurried  preparation  for  the  impending  conflict,  and  as 
she  approached  the  "  Cumberland  "  and  the  "  Congress  " 
they  opened  fire  on  the  huge  craft,  but  their  heavy  pro- 
jectiles glanced  from  her  as  if  they  were  paper  balls. 
About  2:30  P.M.  the  "Merrimac,"  then  within  easy 

83 


range,  opened  fire  on  the  "  Cumberland,"  doing  much 
damage.  The  two  Federal  ships,  which  were  only  about 
one  hundred  feet  away,  then  gave  the  "  Merrimac  "  full 
broadsides,  but  without  the  slightest  effect,  and  the  latter 
craft  mercilessly  sent  four  shells  crashing  into  the  "  Con- 
gress," notwithstanding  that  Commodore  Buchanan  had 
a  brother,  McKean  Buchanan,  paymaster  on  the  "  Con- 
gress " — a  harrowing  illustration  of  the  horrifying  en- 
counters among  the  closest  kindred  in  civil  warfare. 
After  disabling  the  "  Congress,"  the  "  Merrimac " 
directed  her  attention  to  the  "  Cumberland,"  and  under  a 
full  head  of  steam  her  iron  prow  or  ram,  which  pro- 
jected four  feet,  struck  the  Federal  ship  "  nearly  at  right 
angles  under  the  fore  rigging  in  the  starboard  fore 
channels."  I  quote  further  from  Maclay's  "  History  of 
the  Navy  " :  "  The  shock  was  scarcely  felt  in  the  iron- 
clad, but  in  the  '  Cumberland '  it  was  terrific.  The  ship 
heeled  over  to  port  and  trembled  as  if  she  had  struck  a 
rock  under  full  sail,  while  the  iron  prow  of  the  '  Merri- 
mac '  crushed  through  her  side  and  left  a  yawning 
chasm.  In  backing  out  of  the  *  Cumberland,'  the 
'  Merrimac '  left  her  iron  prow  inside  the  doomed  ship. 
Following  up  the  blow  by  the  discharge  of  her  bow 
gun,  she  backed  clear  of  the  wreck.  In  response  to  a 
demand  for  surrender,  Lieutenant  Morris  defiantly 
answered,  '  Never !  I'll  sink  alongside.'  *  *  *  * 
The  scene  in  the  '  Cumberland  '  soon  became  awful.  One 
shell,  bursting  in  the  sick  bay,  killed  or  wounded  four 
men  in  their  cots.  More  than  a  hundred  of  the  crew 
very  soon  were  killed  or  wounded;  the  cockpit  was 
crowded;  the  decks  were  slippery  with  blood  and  were 
strewn  with  the  dead  and  dying,  while  the  inrushing 
waters  and  the  rapid  settling  of  the  ship  too  plainly  indi- 
cated that  she  would  soon  go  to  the  bottom.  In  order  to 
prevent  the  helpless  wounded  on  the  berth  deck  from 
being  drowned,  they  were  lifted  up  on  racks  and  mess 

89 


chests,  and  as  the  ship  settled  more  and  more  they  were 
removed  from  this  temporary  refuge  and  carried  on  deck 
and  placed  amidship.  This  was  all  that  their  shipmates 
could  do  for  them,  and  when  the  ship  finally  went  down 
they  perished  in  her." 

After  sinking  the  "  Cumberland,"  the  "  Merrimac  " 
again  turned  on  the  "  Congress  "  with  her  entire  broad- 
side and,  owing  to  her  own  impervious  character,  soon 
got  the  Federal  ship  into  such  condition,  notwithstanding 
the  heroic  defence  of  her  men  under  Lieutenant  Smith, 
who  soon  was  killed,  that  she  had  to  surrender,  and  there- 
after caught  fire  from  the  hot  shot  of  the  enemy  and  was 
destroyed.  The  "  Merrimac,"  now  under  the  command 
of  Lieutenant  Jones,  a  rifle  ball  having  struck  both  Com- 
modore Buchanan  and  Flag-Lieutenant  Minor,  not  yet 
satisfied  with  the  destruction  which  she  had  wrought,  then 
turned  her  attention  to  the  remaining  Federal  ships,  the 
"Minnesota,"  "St.  Lawrence"  and  "  Roanoke,"  and 
after  having,  with  the  assistance  of  some  accompanying 
Confederate  gun-boats,  played  havoc  especially  with  the 
"  Minnesota,"  about  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  owing 
to  the  ebbing  tide,  turned  her  head  towards  Sewell's  Point, 
where  she  anchored  for  the  night,  with  the  intention  of 
renewing  her  dread  work  on  the  following  morning,  after 
one  of  the  most  disastrous  days  in  the  history  of  the 
Federal  navy. 

In  selecting  the  destruction  of  the  "  Cumberland  "  by 
the  "  Merrimac  "  as  the  subject  of  this  painting,  the  artist 
showed  his  usual  good  judgment.  It  was  one  of  the 
earliest  as  well  as  most  startling  incidents  of  the  entire 
war,  and  in  its  effect  in  revolutionizing  the  construction 
not  only  of  our  ships,  but  those  of  the  world,  easily  holds 
first  place  in  all  naval  history.  The  picture  is  wonder- 
fully painted  and  dramatically  handled  and  is  considered 
by  some  critics  the  most  interesting  of  the  series. 

The  huge,  truncated  bulk  of  the  Confederate  ram  is 

90 


shown  in  the  act  of  plunging  her  prow  through  the 
wooden  hull  of  her  opponent  in  the  teeth  of  a  broadside 
of  fire  and  shell.  The  contrast  of  colors  and  values  is 
forcibly  expressed;  the  black  soft  coal  smoke  from  the 
single  stack  of  the  "  Merrimac  "  drifts  forward  and  en- 
velopes her  antagonist  as  the  cuttle-fish  darkens  the 
water  that  it  may  more  easily  destroy  its  victim. 

An  examination  of  this  painting  is  its  best  description. 
It  is  almost  impossible  to  paint  in  words  the  scene  which 
the  great  artist  has  here  perpetuated  with  his  brush.  The 
water  is  incomparable  and  the  effect  of  the  shipping  as  a 
background,  the  bright  afternoon  sun,  with  the  stars  and 
stripes  on  the  "  Cumberland,"  and  the  stars  and  bars, 
the  emblem  of  the  Confederacy,  on  the  stern  of  the  death- 
dealing  Southern  monster,  the  crowded  deck  of  the 
"  Cumberland,"  in  contrast  with  the  apparently  unmanned 
craft  of  the  enemy,  all  add  to  the  thrilling  and  vivid  effect 
of  the  extraordinary  combat  itself. 

When  the  news  of  the  destruction  wrought  by  the 
"  Merrimac  "  reached  the  North  the  general  consterna- 
tion was  indescribable.  At  a  hastily  called  Cabinet  meet- 
ing the  then  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Gideon  Welles,  is 
reported  to  have  said :  "  The  '  Merrimac '  will  change 
the  whole  character  of  the  war;  she  will  destroy  every 
naval  vessel;  she  will  lay  all  seaboard  cities  under  con- 
tribution; not  unlikely  we  may  have  a  shell  or  cannon 
ball  from  one  of  her  guns  in  the  White  House  before  we 
leave  this  room."  But  the  fate  of  the  "  Merrimac  "  was 
sealed,  for  while  she  was  being  moulded  out  of  the  old 
Federal  hulk  into  the  terrifying  ram,  with  great  inge- 
nuity, by  Constructor  John  L.  Porter,  with  the  assistance 
of  Chief  Engineer  William  P.  Williamson,  after  some 
rough  drawings  prepared  by  Lieutenant  John  N.  Brook, 
who  originated  the  idea  of  her  construction,  all  then  of 
the  Confederate  navy — through  a  strange  coincidence  a 
genius  had  been  at  work  in  the  North  perfecting  the 

91 


world-renowned  little  "  Monitor,"  which  was  soon  to 
meet  the  formidable  Southern  iron-clad  in  battle,  the 
history  of  which  is  suggested  by  the  next  painting  of  the 
series.  It  is  also  strange  that  in  two  of  the  most  noted 
dramas  in  the  records  of  our  navy,  the  one  above  re- 
counted, and  that,  already  referred  to,  in  which  Lieutenant 
Hobson  later  bore  so  heroic  a  part,  the  most  conspicuous 
objects  were  vessels  which  were  both  known  as  the 
"  Merrimac."  The  valor  of  Lieutenant  Morris,  in  the 
part  which  he  bore  in  the  defence  of  the  "  Cumberland," 
has  been  immortalized  not  only  through  this  canvas,  but 
also  through  a  special  message  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to 
Congress  under  date  of  December  10,  1862,  as  follows: 

"  In  conformity  to  the  law  of  July  16,  1862,  I  most 
cordially  recommend  that  Lieutenant-Commander  George 
U.  Morris,  United  States  Navy,  receive  a  vote  of  thanks 
of  Congress  for  the  determined  valor  and  heroism  dis- 
played in  his  defence  of  the  United  States  ship-of-war 
'  Cumberland,'  temporarily  under  his  command,  in  the 
naval  engagement  at  Hampton  Roads  on  the  8th  March, 
1862,  with  the  rebel  iron-clad  steam  frigate  '  Merrimac.'  " 

92 


THE  WHITE  SQUADRON'S 
FAREWELL  SALUTE 

To  the  Body  of 
CAPTAIN  JOHN  ERICSSON 


(New  York  Bay,  August  25,  1890) 


XII. 


THE  WHITE  SQUADRON'S  FAREWELL  SALUTE  TO  THE  BODY 
OF  CAPTAIN  JOHN  ERICSSON. 

New  York  Bay,  August  25,  1890.* 

No  more  fitting  funeral  cortege  could  have  been  de- 
vised than  the  one  which,  on  August  25,  1890,  conveyed 
to  Sweden,  to  their  last  resting-place,  the  remains  of  the 
great  engineer,  John  Ericsson,  whose  inventive  genius 
had  clad  the  wooden  navies  of  the  world  in  armor  of 
impenetrable  iron  and  steel.  Little  had  he  dreamt  when, 
in  1839,  at  the  age  of  thirty-six  (he  was  born  at  Verm- 
land,  Sweden,  on  July  31,  1803)  he  came  to  the  United 
States  in  one  of  the  old  wooden  ships  of  that  day  after  a 
weary  journey  of  many  weeks — as  yet  comparatively  un- 
known to  fame — that  at  the  time  of  his  death,  on  March 
8,  1889,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  almost  twenty-seven 
years  to  a  day  after  the  epoch-making  battle  of  his 
"  Monitor  "  with  the  "  Merrimac,"  his  name  would  be  on 
every  tongue  in  every  land,  and  that  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  would  deem  it  an  honor  to  place  the 
magnificent  protected  cruiser  "  Baltimore  "  of  the  United 
States  Navy  at  the  disposal  of  his  native  country  on  his 
farewell  journey  from  our  shores  to  his  long  home,  amid 
the  salutes,  to  their  flag-ship,  of  the  other  giants  of  the 
White  Squadron  and  the  reverent  tokens  of  grief  and 
respect  displayed  on  all  the  shipping  in  the  harbor,  as  the 
*  About  four  and  one-half  feet  long  by  about  three  feet  high. 
95 


funeral  convoy  slowly  plied  her  way  towards  the  ocean, 
with  the  flags  of  Sweden  and  the  United  States  waving 
at  half  mast  over  her  decks. 

It  is  this  impressive  panorama  which  the  artist  spreads 
before  us  in  this  canvas,  which  was  the  sensation  of  the 
Spring  exhibition  of  1891  at  the  National  Academy  of 
Design  in  New  York.  In  this  picture  he  has  delineated 
details  of  the  shipping  from  sketches  made  by  himself  at 
the  time  and  a  careful  study  of  our  war  vessels,  as  holds 
likewise  true  of  the  next  succeeding  and  last  picture  of 
this  series.  There  is  something  impressively  grand  and 
solemn  about  this  painting,  associated  as  it  is  with  the 
story  of  the  great  inventor.  The  sky  is  superb,  and  the 
water  has  that  realistic  motion  without  turbulence  which 
only  Edward  Moran  could  depict,  while  the  white  gleam- 
ing sister  ships  of  the  "  Baltimore  "  in  the  background  on 
the  right,  the  shipping  in  the  harbor  of  all  descriptions 
and  sizes  in  more  sombre  hue  on  the  left,  and  the  Statue 
of  Liberty  looming  up  in  the  rear,  stand  like  sentinels  on 
guard  as  the  great  white  cruiser,  with  its  flags  at  half 
mast  and  its  stacks  sending  forth,  like  a  veil  of  mourning, 
a  cloud  of  black  smoke — ploughs  with  foam  encircled 
prow  majestically  through  the  water,  like  a  great  living, 
breathing,  moving  thing. 

As  this  creation  of  the  artist  perpetuates  the  tribute  of 
national  gratitude  to  the  great  inventor  of  the  first  "  Mon- 
itor," so,  it  may  be  said,  a  fitting  tribute  has  been  paid  to 
the  picture  itself  through  its  reproduction  in  a  superb 
etching  by  another  great  American  artist,  his  own 
brother,  Thomas  Moran. 

That  the  United  States  Navy  should  take  so  deep  an 
interest  in  paying  the  last  honors  to  John  Ericsson,  with 
an  Admiral  of  the  Navy,  Daniel  L.  Braine,  superintend- 
ing the  ceremonies,  and  a  future  Admiral,  Winfield  Scott 
Schley,  commanding  the  funeral  convoy,  is  not  surpris- 
ing, for  to  Ericsson  it  owed  not  only  the  bomb-proof 

96 


floating  fortresses  of  the  ocean,  but  the  screw  propeller, 
first  applied  in  the  construction  of  the  United  States  man- 
of-war  "  Princeton,"  with  propelling  machinery  under  the 
water  line  out  of  the  reach  of  shot.  The  first  steam  fire- 
engine  ever  constructed  in  the  United  States  was  also  the 
work  of  Ericsson  in  1841,  and  many  and  varied  were  the 
other  inventions  of  his  creative  brain.  But  the  greatest 
service  rendered  by  Ericsson  was  in  the  construction  of 
the  "  Monitor,"  not  only  on  account  of  the  immediate, 
almost  inestimable  benefit  which  it  conferred  in  saving 
the  United  States  Navy  from  destruction  by  the  Confed- 
erate iron-clad  "  Merrimac,"  in  1862,  but  also,  still  more, 
in  view  of  the  impetus  which  it  gave  to  the  development 
of  marine  craft  to  their  present  perfection  and  in  almost 
revolutionizing  the  entire  science  of  naval  warfare. 

When,  at  8  o'clock  on  March  9,  1862,  the  "  Merrimac," 
after  the  havoc  which  she  had  wrought  with  the  Federal 
ships  on  the  evening  before,  including  the  burning  of  the 
"  Congress "  and  the  sinking  of  the  "  Cumberland," 
steamed  out  from  the  shore  in  order  to  continue  her  work 
of  destruction — which  contemplated  successively  the  an- 
nihilation of  the  "  Minnesota,"  the  "  Roanoke  "  and  the 
"  St.  Lawrence,"  and  would  thus  clear  the  way  for  her 
intended  attack  on  the  capital  of  the  nation — she  was 
surprised  to  discover  a  diminutive  craft  of  peculiar  con- 
struction, almost  sunk  beneath  the  water  line,  with  a 
strange-looking  iron  turret  in  the  centre,  steaming  boldly 
towards  her  from  out  the  shadow  of  the  powerful  frigate 
"  Minnesota."  The  "  Monitor  "  had  sailed  from  New 
York  Harbor  on  March  6th,  in  tow  of  a  tugboat,  to  brave 
the  waters  of  the  Atlantic,  although  she  was  originally 
designed  only  for  smooth  inland  waters.  Before  she  had 
passed  Sandy  Hook  she  received  urgent  despatches  to 
hurry  to  Washington  and,  after  inconceivable  hardships 
in  the  towering  seas  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  arrived  off 
Fortress  Monroe  about  9  o'clock  in  the  evening  of 

97 


March  8th,  where  she  heard  for  the  first  time  of  the  depre- 
dations of  the  "  Merrimac  "  and  witnessed  the  final  de- 
struction of  the  "  Congress  "  amid  lurid  flames  and  the 
bursting  of  her  own  shells.  Though  worn  out  and  dis- 
heartened in  their  own  struggle  for  life  with  the  tempestu- 
ous billows  of  the  ocean  on  this,  her  first  trial  trip  of 
thirty-six  hours  from  New  York  until  she  reached  the 
side  of  the  "  Minnesota,"  the  crew  of  the  "  Monitor/'  en- 
couraged and  reassured  by  its  heroic  commander,  Lieu- 
tenant John  L.  Worden,  prepared  for  the  expected  combat 
with  their  redoubtable  opponent. 

The  eyes  not  only  of  the  men  in  the  shipping  and  on 
shore,  both  Union  and  Confederate,  but  of  the  whole 
country,  were  anxiously  centred  on  the  two  iron-clads  as 
they  approached  each  other,  and  the  little  "  Monitor " 
hardly  seemed  a  match  for  the  huge  craft  of  the  Confed- 
erates, who  looked  with  contempt  upon  the  diminutive 
"  cheese  box,"  as  they  called  it,  which  dared  to  take  up 
the  gage  of  battle  with  their  formidable  "  Merrimac." 
Soon,  however,  it  became  apparent  that  the  prowess  of 
the  little  Union  craft  had  been  entirely  underestimated, 
and  in  the  combat  which  ensued  the  very  smallness  of  the 
"  Monitor  "  gave  her  a  great  advantage,  in  the  swiftness 
of  her  movements,  over  her  gigantic  opponent,  not  unlike 
an  undersized  but  agile  and  skilful  athlete  in  encounter 
with  a  large  and  lumbering,  though  more  powerful,  an- 
tagonist. Lieutenant  Worden  was  the  hero  of  the  occa- 
sion in  the  rapidity  of  his  manoeuvring,  while  Lieutenant 
Jones,  now  in  command  of  the  "  Merrimac,"  was  sur- 
prised to  find  that  his  shot  made  no  impression  on  the 
"  Monitor."  After  more  than  two  hours  of  incessant 
fighting,  Lieutenant  Worden  having  been  temporarily 
blinded  through  the  powder  from  an  exploding  shell 
which  struck  a  sight-hole  in  the  pilot-house  of  the  "  Mon- 
itor," through  which  he  was  watching  the  enemy,  its 
command  devolved  upon  Lieutenant  Greene.  As  in  the 

98 


ensuing  confusion  the  "  Monitor  "  had  drifted  into  shoal 
water,  where  the  "  Merrimac  "  could  not  follow,  the  lat- 
ter ship  retired  to  the  shore,  and  although  refitted  and 
repaired  for  further  combat  she  did  not  again  meet  the 
"  Monitor  "  in  battle,  and,  on  the  evacuation  of  Norfolk 
by  the  Confederates  on  the  loth  of  May  following,  they 
consigned  her  to  destruction. 

The  courage  of  Lieutenant  Worden  in  the  handling  of 
the  novel  and  untested  craft  under  his  command,  and  his 
brave  words — even  when  blinded  and  wounded  by  the 
powder  and  particles  from  the  shells  of  the  enemy  and 
suffering  intense  pain — when  he  was  told  that  the  "  Min- 
nesota "  had  been  saved :  "  Then  I  can  die  happy," — stamp 
him  as  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  long  list  of  our  naval 
heroes. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  with  his 
quick  perception  of  genuine  merit,  caused  the  following 
communication  to  be  sent  to  Lieutenant  Worden : 

"  NAVY  DEPARTMENT,  March  15,  1862. 

"  Lieutenant  'John  L.  Worden,  United  States  Navy, 
Commanding   United  States  Steamer  'Moni- 
tor,' Washington. 
"  Sir: 

"  The  naval  action  which  took  place  on  the  loth  *  inst. 
between  the  '  Monitor '  and  '  Merrimac '  at  Hampton 
Roads,  when  your  vessel,  with  two  guns,  engaged  a 
powerful  armored  steamer  of  a£  least  eight  guns,  and 
after  a  few  hours'  conflict  repelled  her  formidable  antag- 
onist, has  excited  general  admiration  and  received  the 
applause  of  the  whole  country. 

"  The  President  directs  me,  while  earnestly  and  deeply 
sympathizing  with  you  in  the  injuries  which  you  have 
sustained,  but  which  it  is  believed  are  but  temporary,  to 

*  This,  it  would  seem,  ought  to  be  March  gth. 
99 


thank  you  and  your  command  for  the  heroism  you  have 
displayed  and  the  great  service  you  have  rendered. 

"  The  action  of  the  loth  and  the  performance,  power, 
and  capabilities  of  the  '  Monitor '  must  effect  a  radical 
change  in  naval  warfare. 

"  Flag-Officer  Goldsborough,  in  your  absence,  will  be 
furnished  by  the  Department  with  a  copy  of  this  letter  of 
thanks  and  instructed  to  cause  it  to  be  read  to  the  officers 
and  crew  of  the  '  Monitor.' 

"  I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"GIDEON  WELLES." 

The  President  followed  this  up  with  a  special  message 
to  Congress  on  December  8,  1862,  as  follows: 

"  To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives: 

11  In  conformity  to  the  law  of  July  16,  1862,  I  most 
cordially  recommend  that  Commander  John  L.  Worden, 
United  States  Navy,  receive  a  vote  of  thanks  of  Con- 
gress for  the  eminent  skill  and  gallantry  exhibited  by 
him  in  the  late  remarkable  battle  between  the  United 
States  iron-clad  steamer  '  Monitor,'  under  his  command, 
and  the  rebel  iron-clad  steamer  '  Merrimac,'  in  March  last. 
"  The  thanks  of  Congress  for  his  services  on  the  occa- 
sion referred  to  were  tendered  by  a  resolution  approved 
July  u,  1862,  but  the  recommendation  is  now  specially 
made  in  order  to  comply  with  the  requirements  of  the 
ninth  section  of  the  act  of  July  16,  1862,  which  is  in  the 
following  words,  viz. : 

"  '  That  any  line  officer  of  the  Navy  or  Marine  Corps 
may  be  advanced  one  grade  if  upon  recommendation  of 
the  President  by  name  he  receives  the  thanks  of  Congress 
for  highly  distinguished  conduct  in  conflict  with  the 
enemy  or  for  extraordinary  heroism  in  the  line  of  his 
profession.' 

"  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN." 

100 


In  this  fight  the  "  Monitor  "  had  been  struck  twenty- 
two  times  without  appreciable  effect,  the  deepest  indenta- 
tion having  been  made  by  a  shot  that  penetrated  the 
iron  on  her  side  to  the  depth  of  four  inches.  On  the 
"  Merrimac "  ninety-seven  indentations  of  shot  were 
found,  twenty  of  which  were  from  the  n-inch  guns  of 
the  "  Monitor,"  which  had  shattered  six  of  the  top  layers 
of  her  iron  plates. 

On  the  29th  of  December  following,  the  "  Monitor  " 
herself  was  lost,  having  been  foundered  and  sunk  with 
sixteen  of  her  crew,  in  a  heavy  gale,  a  few  miles  south  of 
Cape  Hatteras.  But  the  test  to  which  the  "  Monitor  " 
had  been  subjected  in  her  battle  with  the  "  Merrimac  " 
proved  beyond  doubt  that  iron  was  destined  to  take  the 
place  of  wood  in  the  construction  of  our  men-of-war 
thereafter,  and  the  confidence  of  John  Ericsson  in  the 
ultimate  success  of  his  experiment,  after  many  discour- 
agements and  rebuffs  on  the  part  of  the  naval  authorities, 
was  fully  justified  in  its  final  results,  and  the  honors 
which  the  nation  showered  upon  him  in  the  evening  of 
his  life,  and  the  tribute  which  it  paid  to  his  genius  after 
his  death,  were  merited  by  him  quite  as  much  as  the 
perpetuation  of  his  memory  through  this  stirring  canvas 
of  the  great  artist,  as  is  also  the  memory,  in  the  second 
painting  of  this  series,  of  that  other  Erickson,  his  an- 
cestor, who,  almost  a  thousand  years  before,  was  the 
first  white  man  known  to  have  set  foot  on  American  soil. 

101 


RETURN  OF  THE  CONQUERORS 


Typifying  Our  Victory  in  the  Late 
Spanish-American  War 


(September  29, 


XIII. 

RETURN  OF  THE  CONQUERORS.     TYPIFYING  OUR  VICTORY  IN 
THE  LATE  SPANISH-AMERICAN  WAR,  SEPTEMBER  29,  1899.* 

As  a  fitting  close  to  the  grand  pictorial  illustration  of 
our  marine  history,  this  canvas  represents  one  of  the  most 
magnificent  pageants  ever  seen  on  our  waters,  in  com- 
memoration of  the  victorious  close  of  the  last  great  war, 
in  which  our  navy  added  fresh  leaves  to  its  laurel  wreath 
of  heroic  achievement.  It,  at  the  same  time,  depicts  the 
culminating  stage  in  the  evolution  of  naval  construction 
from  the  time  when  the  Norsemen  in  their  drakkars,  and 
Columbus  in  his  caravels,  braved  the  perils  of  the  ocean, 
until  the  steel-clad  battleships  of  Dewey  and  Schley  and 
Sampson  met  in  conflict  the  no  less  formidable  floating 
fortresses  of  Cervera  and  Montojo.  It  is  a  picture  of 
to-day,  with  the  well-defined  outlines  of  the  Statue  of 
Liberty  in  allegorical  suggestion  at  the  mouth  of  the 
great  river  up  which  the  little  "  Half  Moon  "  first  sailed, 
also  on  a  September  day,  just  two  hundred  and  ninety 
years  before.  It  suggests — in  the  great/  grim,  steel-clad 
leviathans  of  the  ocean  steaming  up  the  river,  with  their 
powerful  armament  and  each  representing  millions  of 
dollars  in  its  construction,  along  the  shores  of  the  second 
largest  city  in  the  world,  and  with  flags  and  banners  fly- 
ing proudly  from  every  mast  and  spar — not  only  the 
victory  of  our  arms  but  the  growth  of  the  nation,  from 
the  sparse  settlements  in  the  days  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 

*  Four  and  one-half  feet  long  by  about  three  feet  high. 
105 


to  a  population  of  80,000,000  souls,  and  from  the  thirteen 
little  struggling  provinces,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, to  the  forty-five  great  States  and  four  Territories  of 
the  Union,  with  its  possessions  even  beyond  the  confines 
of  the  continent — imperial  in  its  power  and  greatness,  not 
dreamt  of  even  when,  only  about  a  century  before,  Paul 
Jones  and  Decatur  and  Captain  Reid  performed  the  feats 
of  daring  which  are  immortalized  in  the  earlier  of  these 
paintings. 

It  typifies,  as  the  artist  himself  points  out  in  his  title, 
our  conquering  arms — in  the  very  motion  of  the  proud 
battleships,  as  in  majestic  array,  representing  both  the 
Pacific  and  North  Atlantic  squadrons,  they  seem  to  sweep 
gradually  forward  and  onward  within  full  view.  If  Mr. 
Moran  had  never  painted  anything  else,  this  picture 
would  stamp  him  as  a  surpassing  genius.  The  grouping 
of  the  great  vessels  and  the  indication  of  their  vast  num- 
ber, the  brilliancy  of  the  water  and  the  whole  coloring  are 
matchless.  It  suggests  in  the  proud  procession  of  the 
ships-of-war,  in  perspective,  as  far  back  as  the  eye  can 
reach,  a  gathering  of  almost  the  entire  navy,  and  is  in 
that  respect  far  more  than  a  mere  photographic  represen- 
tation of  the  actual  occurrence.  In  this  picture  he  repre- 
sents the  "  Olympia  "  as  the  principal  object,  the  nearest 
in  the  foreground,  her  hull  in  gleaming  white,  with  the 
suggestion  of  the  figure  of  Admiral  Dewey  standing  on 
the  bridge,  with  her  sister  ships  of  like  hue  following  in 
her  wake;  while  another  line,  on  the  left  of  the  picture, 
headed  by  the  "  New  York  "  and  "  Brooklyn,"  and  with 
Admirals  Sampson  and  Schley  on  board,  appears  in  more 
sombre  hue,  only  second  in  importance,  however,  to  the 
"  Olympia."  Such  a  picture  could  only  be  produced  by  an 
artist  of  the  most  poetic  and  imaginative  instincts  as  well 
as  a  close  student  of  the  actualities;  for  while  it  is  to  a 
certain  extent  allegoric  of  the  event  which  it  records 
and  the  memories  connected  with  it,  nothing  could  be 

1 06 


more  real  or  faithful  than  the  reproduction  of  our  iron- 
clads, with  all  the  detail  of  armament,  turret,  tackle,  an- 
chor, port-holes  and  even  the  national  coat  of  arms  on 
the  prow.  Even  the  signal  of  the  "  Olympia,"  "  Remem- 
ber the  Maine,"  and  the  answering  signal  of  the  "  Brook- 
lyn," "  The  Maine  is  avenged  and  Cuba  is  free,"  can  be 
seen  flying  from  their  yards. 

The  events  which  are  recalled  by  this  painting  are  so 
recent  that  it  would  seem  superfluous  to  refer  to  them  at 
all,  and  yet,  in  continuation  of  the  historic  outline  pre- 
sented in  these  pages,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  record  that 
the  battle  of  Manila  was  fought  on  May  I,  1898;  that  not 
a  single  life  was  lost  on  the  American  side  and  only  a 
few  men  wounded,  without  any  material  injury  to  the 
American  ships,  consisting  of  four  cruisers  and  two  gun- 
boats, while  the  whole  Spanish  fleet,  under  the  command 
of  Admiral  Montojo,  consisting  of  seven  cruisers  and 
five  gunboats,  was  destroyed,  with  the  exception  of  two, 
and  these  were  captured,  and  that  our  ships,  in  addition, 
silenced  and  captured  the  formidable  shore  batteries  on 
Cavite  Point.  Furthermore,  that  our  naval  operations 
came  to  a  close  off  Santiago  Harbor  on  July  3,  1898, 
through  the  destruction  or  capture  by  our  fleet — under 
the  command  of  Admirals  Schley  and  Sampson,  consist- 
ing of  four  battleships,  one  armored  cruiser  and  two  con- 
verted yachts,  one  of  them  the  "  Gloucester,"  under  the 
command  of  the  intrepid  Richard  Wainwright — of  the 
entire  Spanish  fleet,  consisting  of  four  powerful  armored 
cruisers  of  the  highest  class  and  two  torpedo  boat 
destroyers,  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Cervera. 

Space  forbids  even  a  passing  reference  to  the  instances 
of  individual  heroism  displayed  during  this  war  by  the 
officers  and  men  of  our  ships,  as  for  example  that  of 
Lieutenant  Richmond  P.  Hobson,  all  of  which  are  con- 
jured up  by  a  contemplation  of  this  painting.  It  is  also 
impossible  to  refer  at  length  to  the  reception  itself  to 

107 


Admiral  Dewey  and  the  other  officers  and  men  of  our 
fleets,  of  which  the  naval  procession  constituted  only  one 
feature ;  but  no  eye-witness  can  ever  forget  the  march  of 
the  returning  victors  in  the  land  parade  on  September  30, 
1899,  as  it  passed  under  that  masterpiece  of  American 
sculpture,  the  arch  located  at  Madison  Square. 

There  were  also  some  touching  incidents  connected 
with  this  celebration.  Among  them,  and  as  suggested  by 
this  picture,  should  be  mentioned  the  fact  that  a  sailor  by 
the  name  of  Bartholomew  Diggins  presented  Admiral 
Dewey  with  the  blue  flag  of  Admiral  Farragut,  which 
had  been  in  the  possession  of  Diggins,  who  had  served 
with  Dewey  under  Farragut  in  the  Civil  War,  and  this 
flag  flew  from  one  of  the  mast-heads  of  the  "  Olympia  " 
as  she  steamed  up  the  river  in  the  van  of  the  magnificent 
array. 

How  doubly  glorious  will  appear  this  splendid  ovation 
to  our  heroes  immortalized  in  this  picture,  if  the  war, 
from  which  they  are  shown  returning  as  conquerors,  shall 
result  in  a  full  realization  of  the  noble  motive,  which  in- 
spired it,  of  liberation  and  not  of  conquest,  and  we  may 
in  patriotic  pride  address  Columbia  in  the  words  of 
Timothy  Dwight: 

"  To  conquest  and  slaughter  let  Europe  aspire ; 
Whelm  nations  in  blood,  and  wrap  cities  in  fire; 
Thy  heroes  the  rights  of  mankind  shall  defend, 
And  triumph  pursue  them,  and  glory  attend ! " 


With  this  picture  the  artist  closes  the  commemoration 
of  our  naval  achievements  in  the  four  great  periods  of 
our  history,  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  the  War  of  1812, 
the  Civil  War,  and  the  Spanish- American  War  of  1898, 
to  which  the  last  six  pictures  of  the  series  are  devoted, 
as  the  preceding  six  illustrate  the  dawn  of  our  history 

108 


from  the  first  landing  of  the  white  man  to  the  settlement 
of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers — preceding  all  of  which  is  the 
mysterious  and  unfathomable  past  symbolized  by  the 
trackless  "  Ocean,"  the  first  of  these  paintings. 

From  the  time  that  Eirek  the  Red  sailed  to  the  bleak 
shores  of  Greenland  down  to  the  brilliant  exploit  of  Ad- 
miral Dewey  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  how  true  it  is,  in 
view  of  each  and  every  one  of  the  events  immortalized 
in  this  unequalled  series  of  paintings,  that,  in  the  words 
of  Bishop  Berkeley, 

"  Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way ! " 


109 


INDEX. 


Agreement  of  Confederation, 
written  on  board  "  May- 
flower," 6 1,  62 

America,  Early  Discoveries  of, 
33,  34 

American  Flag,  First  Recogni- 
tion of,  painting,  description 
of,  68;  Designing  and  Adop- 
tion of  Present  Form,  81. 

Armaments :  "  Armstrong,"  79 ; 
Modern  Battleships,  68 ; 
"  Ranger,"  68 

"  Armstrong,"  Brig,  Engaging 
the  British  Fleet,  painting, 
description  of,  82,  83 

Bainbridge,  Captain,  73 
"  Baltimore,"  Cruiser,  95 
Braine,  Admiral,  96 
Brig    "  Armstrong "    Engaging 
the    British    Fleet,    painting, 
description  of,  82,  83 
"  Brooklyn,"  Cruiser,  106,  107 
Buchanan,  Commodore,  88,  89 
Burning  of  Frigate  "  Philadel- 
phia,"    painting,    description 
of,  75,  76 
Byron,  Lord,  quotation  from,  29 

Caravels,  40,  105 

Castelar,  Emilio,  quotation 
from,  41,  42 

Cervera,  Admiral,  105,  107 

Chicago,  Columbian  Exposi- 
tion, 40,  80 

Columbus,  Christopher,  39  to 
43 ;  Death,  42 ;  Transfer  of 
Remains,  43 

Columbus,  Debarkation  of, 
painting,  description  of,  41, 
42;  "Santa  Maria,"  "Nina" 
and  "  Pinta,"  painting,  de- 
scription of,  41,  42 


Compact    of    Pilgrim    Fathers, 

61,  62 

"  Congress,"  Frigate,  88,  89,  90 
Constitution  of  United  States, 

Preamble,  62 

Cowper,  quotation  from,  69 
"  Cumberland,"  The,  87  to  92, 
95,   97;    Sinking  of,   by   the 
"  Merrimac,"     painting,     de- 
scription of,  90,  91 

Debarkation  of  Columbus, 
painting,  description  of,  41, 
42 

Decatur,  Stephen,  10,  74,  106; 
Birth,  Death,  75;  Sword,  74; 
Toast  to  our  Country,  74 

De  Soto,  Ferdinand,  47  to  49; 
Birth,  Death,  47;  Expedition 
of,  47  to  49;  Midnight  Mass 
over  the  Body  of,  painting, 
description  of,  48,  49 

Dewey,  George,  Admiral,  10, 
105,  106,  107,  109 

Drake,  quotation  from,  67 

Drakkars,  35,  105 

Eirek  the  Red,  33,  34,  109 

Embarkation  of  Pilgrims, 
painting,  description  of,  60 

Ericsson,  John,  Birth,  Death, 
95 ;  "  Monitor,"  92,  97  to  101 : 
White  Squadron's  Farewell 
Salute  to  body  of,  painting, 
description  of,  95,  96 

Erickson,  Lief,  Landing  in 
New  World,  33,  34 ;  painting, 
description  of,  35,  36,  101 

Esquimos,  34 

Everett,  Edward,  quotation 
from  oration  on  the  Pilgrims, 
60,  61 


in 


Exhibition  of  Paintings  of  Ed- 
ward Moran,  9,  18,  19 

Farewell  Salute  to  John  Erics- 
son, painting,  description  of, 

95.  96 

Farragut,  Admiral,  108 

Fayal,  79,  81,  83 

First  Recognition  of  American 
Flag,  painting,  description  of, 
68,  69 

Fiske,  Jdhn,  40 

Flag,  United  States,  67,  68; 
First  Recognition  of,  paint- 
ing, description  of,  68,  69; 
Captain  Reid,  81 ;  Resolutions 
of  Congress  authorizing,  67, 
81 

Florida,  47,  48 

Greenland,  Settlement  of,  33,  34 

"  Half-Moon,"  ship  of  Hudson, 
53,  105 

Hamilton,  James.  16 

Remans,  Felicia,  quotation 
from,  62,  63 

Herald,  New  York,  quotation 
from,  9 

Hobson,  Richmond  Pearson, 
10,  73,  92 

Holland,  53,  54,  59 

Hopkins,  Admiral,  27 

Hudson,  Henry,  53  to  55;  En- 
tering New  York  Bay,  paint- 
ing, description  of,  55 

Hudson  River,  Discovery  of,  54 

Iceland,  33,  34,  36 

Iron  versus  Wood,  Sinking  of 
"  Cumberland  "  by  "  Merri- 
mac,"  painting,  description  of, 
90,  91 

Jackson,  Andrew,  Defence  of 
New  Orleans,  82;  Special 
Message  to  Congress  about 
burning  of  frigate  "  Philadel- 
phia," 75. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  Special 
Message  to  Congress  about 
Lieutenant  Decatur,  74 


Jones,  John  Paul,  10,  68,  106; 
Birth  and  Death,  69;  Letter 
to  Naval  Committee,  68 

La  Motte  Piquet,  Admiral,  68 
Landing   of   Lief   Erickson   in 
the    New    World,    painting, 
description  of,  35,  36,  101 
Lincoln,      Abraham,       Special 
Message  to   Congress  about 
Lieutenant  George  U.   Mor- 
ris,    92;     about     Lieutenant 
John    Worden,    100;    Com- 
mendation     of      Lieutenant 
John  L.  Worden,  99,  100 
Litigation  about  thirteen  paint- 
ings, 8 

Lloyd,  Commodore,  79,  82 
Louisiana  Purchase,  10,  49,  82 ; 
Exposition,  50 

Manila  Bay,  Battle  of,  107 

"  Mayflower,"  59,  60,  61 

"  Merrimac,"  The,  Confederate 

Ram,  87  to  92,  95,  97  to  101 ; 

of    Spanish-American    War, 

92 
Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art, 

9 

Midnight  Mass  over  the  Body 
of  Ferdinand  De  Soto,  paint- 
ing, description  of,  48,  49 

Mississippi  River,  Discovery  of, 
48,49 

"Monitor,"  The,  92,  95,  97  to 
101 

Montojo,  Admiral,  105  ,107 

Moran,  Annette,  8,  20;  Death, 
21 ;  Paintings,  20 

Moran,  Edward,  15  to  21; 
Academies,  Gubs,  Societies, 

16,  17;    Birth,    Death,    15; 
Marriage,  8,  20 ;  Paintings  of, 

17,  18 

Moran,  Thomas,  etching  by,  96 
Morris,  George  U.,  10,  88,  89, 
92 

Nantucket,  34 

Napoleon,    Louis,    Arbitration 

about  Brig  "Armstrong,"  8r 
Navy,  Ships  of,  68,  73,  74,  79, 

82,  88,  90,  97;  Improvement, 

87,  97,  105 


112 


New  Orleans,  82 
New  York,  City  of,  54 
"  New  York,"  Cruiser,  106 
Norse  Costumes,  35 
Norsemen,  33,  34,  40,  105 
Norse  ships,  35 
Norway,  33 

Ocean,  The,  painting,  descrip- 
tion of,  10,  27,  28,  109 
"  Olympia,"  The,  106,  107,  108 

Paintings  of  Edward  Moran, 
partial  list  of,  17,  18 

Parmentier,  Antoine  Augustin, 
20 

"  Philadelphia,"  Frigate,  Burn- 
ing of,  painting,  description 
of,  75,  76 

Pilgrims,  59  to  63,  109;  Com- 
pact in  "  Mayflower,"  61 ; 
Embarkation  of,  painting 
description  of,  60 

Plymouth  Rock,  59 

Portuguese  Government,  79,  80 

Quiberon,  10,  68 

"  Ranger,"  68 

Reid,  Capt.  Samuel  Chester,  10, 

79,    106;    Birth,    Death,    82; 

Long     Torn,     79,     80,     81 ; 

Sword,    81 ;    United    States 

Flag,  81 
Return     of     the     Conquerors, 

painting,  description  of,  105, 

106,  107 

Sampson,  William  T.,  10,  105, 
106 

"  Santa  Maria,"  "  Nina "  and 
"  Pinta,"  painting,  descrip- 
tion of,  41,  42 

Santiago  Harbor,  Battle  of,  107 

Schiller,  Friedrich,  quotation 
from,  43 

Schley,  Winfield  Scott,  10,  96, 
105,  106 

Ships  of  Captain  Bairibridge, 
73;  Columbus,  39,  40;  Com- 
modore Decatur,  74 ;  De  Soto, 
47;  Dewey,  106,  107;  Henry 
Hudson,  53;  Paul  Jones,  68; 
Commodore  Lloyd,  79;  Com- 


mander George  U.  Morris, 
88;  Norsemen,  35;  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  59;  Captain  Samuel 
C.  Reid,  79 ;  Sampson,  Schley, 
106,  107;  Lieutenant  Worden, 
98 

Sinking  of  the  "  Cumberland  " 
by  the  "  Merrimac,"  painting, 
description  of,  90,  91 

Southampton,  60 

Spanish-American  War,  105  to 
109;  Return  of  Conquerors, 
painting,  description  of,  105, 
106,  107 

Statue  of  Liberty,  18,  96,  105 

Taylor,  Bayard,  quotation  from, 
3.6 

Thirteen,  number  connected 
with  events  in  history  of  the 
United  States,  9,  10,  67 

Thirteen  Paintings,  Exhibition 
of,  9,  27 ;  General  Descrip- 
tion, 7  to  it,  68;  Litigation 
about,  8;  Sizes  of,  27,  33,  39, 
47,  53,  59,  67,  73,  79,  87,  95, 
105 

Tripoli,  73,  74 

United  States,  Constitution  of, 
62 ;  Number  of  States,  9,  67, 

81,  106;  Population,  106 

Vinland,  34,  36 
Virginia,  Colony  of,  59 

Wainwright,  Richard,  10,  107 
Wars:  Civil,  82,  87,  108 ;/<?/<?, 

82,  108;  Revolution,  67,  108; 
Spanish-American,  43,  108 

Webber,  Paul,  16 

Welles,  Gideon,  Alarm  about 
"  Merrimac,"  91 ;  Letter  to 
Lieutenant  John  L.  Worden, 
99,  loo 

West   Indies,   origin  of  name, 

43 

White  Squadron's  Farewell  Sa- 
lute  to   the    Body   of    Capt. 
John  Ericsson,  painting,  de- 
scription of,  95,  96 
Worden,  John  L.,  10,  98,  99 
World's  Fair,  Chicago,  40,  80 


A     000  452  040     9 


